The Burning Nightmare
by Silenced Doves
Summary: Team Rocket has been run out of Kanto. An Elite Ranger is sent to Hoenn to investigate disturbing rumors of strange disappearances and a new terrorist group rising from the ashes of Team Rocket. Along the way Ash will meet a girl that may just rid him of his terrible past. If she doesn't get lost in a conflict that will burn across all of Hoenn. Slow updates for the summer.
1. Signs of trouble

AN: So in case you did not notice from my profile, I have not written in a long time…years really. I recently got myself hooked onto Pokemon and this idea has been rattling around and I really felt the need to get it out. I took a lot of inspiration for the world as a whole from The Sun Soul written by 50caliberchaos. I highly suggest you check it out, it is a great read and I cannot wait for the sequel. This world will be darker, not as dark as The Sun Soul, but dark all the same.

Ash - 17

Brock – 21

May - 16

**Chapter 1 – The Burning Nightmare of Cinnabar**

Lance glanced up from his conversation with his cousin Clair at the sound of his door opening unannounced. He let out a frustrated sigh as he hit the button to active his intercom. "Joyce…I told you no visi…" Lance trailed off once he looked up to meet the sight of Ash Ketchum. In the back ground he registered Joyce responding to him, he did not even pay attention to the words though. "Never mind Joyce, I apologize for my tone." Once again he tuned Joyce out and diverted his attention from Clair and the intercom to Ash.

"So what brings Elite Ranger Ash Ketchum to my office?" Lance asked, keeping a neutral expression on his face. He was not exactly excited to have Ash barge in on his conversation with Clair, but, Ash would not appear in his office without reason. In the back ground he heard Clair snort in derision at his greeting.

Ash shot both the Dragon Masters a disarming smile before stepping fully into the office. He was dressed in plain blue jeans, a black shirt that clung to his upper body, and a grey vest that covered most of the shirt. Of course he also wore his signature hat and wore plain white trainers. To finish off his ensemble he wore dark black fingerless gloves with blue gems on the inside of his wrists. "Well I was just stopping by to hand in my resignation from the Kanto region." With that he plopped a heavy stack of paper down on Lance's desk.

Once again Lance heard Clair snort in the back ground; he silenced her with a quick glare in her direction before staring at the papers. He barely showed any interest in the documents, enough rangers be they regular corps or elite had dropped the same papers on his desk. Ash though…Ash was no regular ranger, Elite or otherwise.

Finally after a moment of silence, Lance decided to speak. "Bull shit. We both know you are on the track to replacing Agatha when she retires." Lance leaned into the desk, his elbows resting on the desk. "Why the sudden decision to stop? Getting bored now that Team Rocket has been run out of Kanto?"

Ash just grinned back while scratching the back of his head. "You know I barely did anything to run Rocket out of Kanto, Red was behind most of it. The rest of the Elite Four took the remaining credit due. I was just a front line solider, nothing more, nothing less."

"Hmm…yes, Red, landed the final blow but we both know you landed a major blow to Rocket's operations on Cinnabar." Lance continued before glancing back at the paper work. He noticed that Ash was removing Elite Ranger from his identification. "Now why would you remove your status from your identification…even retired Rangers are by law, allowed to identify themselves as Rangers, once a Ranger always a Ranger right?" Lance ended his question with a raised eyebrow.

Chuckling nervously, Ash once again sent a disarming smile at the two Dragon Masters in an attempt to silence their looks of disbelief. "Well you know…traveling the world…outside of Kanto the Ranger status really doesn't mean much."

"Riiiight the Burning Nightmare of Cinnabar just walks in, resigns, and gives up all of his powers." Clair finally decided to speak up. Her voice conveyed her sarcasm as she simply rolled her eyes.

Ash sucked in a deep breath…every time he was called that, it felt like a punch to the chest. The easy going smile slid off his face, replaced, by a frosty expression. "Do Not Call Me That Name." Ash annunciated each word. All aspects of the playful and care free trainer gone, he crossed his arms and sent a glare towards Clair.

Clair unfortunately did not seem to get the hint to stop while she was ahead. "You earned that name fair and square. When you landed on Cinnabar with Lance and I, the whole island was under Rocket control, but you…you and Blaine killed them all. There was no mercy…I saw it all. You even turned their secret weapons project against them. The bodies were strewn everywhere…in pieces and everything…everything was on fire." Clair finished with a frosty look, she always hated Ash and his care free attitude. He acted as if nothing was a big deal…but when he got angry. Well Cinnabar Island was a proving grounds of his rage. "The population of Cinnabar Island was close to two million before you and Blaine started your offensive against Rocket. Oh well I am sure they are recovering…I mean it has been two years, am I right?" Clair ended her little diatribe with a sigh and a shrug.

She never noticed that Ash had gone completely silent…shaking now from rage. Finally after regaining some composure, he spoke, his voice barely going above a whisper. "I don't remember asking for your assistance Princess, if I remember correctly, the only reason you were that was due to Lance's insistence."

Lance glanced up from the paper work that had been dropped on his desk. "Do not involve me in this." Finally after he took another moment to study the two he realized that Clair was going to push the issue and the last thing he wanted, was for Ash to really blow up. "Clair, leave, now." Lance directed his attention to Clair, his look brooked no argument. "We will discuss your insubordinate attitude at a later date."

With a final huff Clair vaulted herself out of her seat in the corner by Lance's desk. She pressed by Ash with a final glare before she was out the door. Clair closed the heavy oak door with a final slam.

Ash stood there by the entrance, surveying the office for the first time since he stepped in. He took a moment to cool off. The room was fairly Spartan, probably due to the fact that Lance rarely spent time in the office. The window to his left in the corner, which Clair, had been sitting in had the shades drawn. He could vaguely make out the sunset behind the heavy shades. The rest of the room was fairly boring with white washed walls, an executive oak desk, and of course two chairs in front of said desk. "So…if that is all." Ash left the question hanging.

For the first time during the meeting Lance showed some amusement break across his face. "Really? You think I would let the only Elite Ranger we have just walk out without an explanation other than that you are done and wish to travel. Not to mention you are dumping this one on me while Red is gone off to who knows where? How would I explain this to him Ash?" Lance finished with a snort. He could just imagine it now. Explaining to Red that his protégée in all but name had just upped and left with no reason other than he wanted to travel to the Hoenn region. Lance shook his head before returning his attention to Ash.

For his credit Ash did not break immediately under the intimidating gaze of Lance. Well he held out for a minute…alright he held out for all of 30 seconds before trying to laugh it off. "Well I am sure Red will understand…it was his idea after all."

Lance grumbled slightly before leaning back in his chair. He closed his eyes in annoyance. As always Red had his fingers in many pots and he did not always feel the need to inform the Elite Four of everything. "So what mission is it?"

Ash laughed again scratching his head a little. "Oh you know…Red heard of a new group forming in Hoenn and that the remainder of Team Rocket. Well of course someone needed to check it out and report back. That someone being stealthy, deceptive, and most of all loyal to Red's cause to wipe Rocket off this Earth with prejudice…and of course that someone is me!" Ash declared while pointing his thumb right back at himself.

Fighting the urge to groan at Ash's description he leaned forward in his desk again and opened his eyes. Lance Studied Ash for a moment prior to speaking his mind of the mission. "Well I can't say stealthy or deceptive would be your forte. Please just tell me you are not taking any Pokémon that are too conspicuous and related to your time in Cinnabar. The Rocket survivors may not have seen your face but you know they remember your Pokémon."

With a wave of his hand, Ash flashed five pokeballs, each of different colors, in front of Lance. Putting on a placating smile and speaking to Lance as if he were a five year old and not the leader of the Elite Four. "Relax…nothing too out of place. I guess I should say Charizard and Infernape will not be joining me. I suppose Salamence will not be joining me for this mission either." Ash finished with a smile before clipping the pokeballs back onto his magnetic belt.

"Well thank the heavens for that." Lance muttered imagining for a moment Ash's version of undercover investigation was riding on the back of Salamence while he used Charizard or Infernape to "question" suspicious people.

"Well if that is all…I just need you to update my Pokedex and remove my Ranger status. As far as the people of Hoenn will know, I am just Ash Ketchum, traveler from the Kanto frontier. I will be traveling and competing in the Hoenn league gym battles. Hopefully by visiting all the towns and speaking with the gym leaders there, I can pick up any hints of discord and follow if back to the source." Ash handed his Pokedex over to Lance.

Lance glanced at the beaten up dex for a moment before plugging it into his computer. His fingers ran over the keyboard for a moment. Now and again moving a finger up to swipe something on the screen and removing the item completely from the dex. In under ten minutes Ash became a regular trainer. His battle data was re-programmed as well. Lance knew that Ash did not understand the concept of holding back but he could not leave Ash's near undefeated record on the dex. Instead he placed Ash in an above average bracket. "Done…now get out of my office. Also…I do not want to hear about the Hoenn region being turned into a duck shoot. Try using some of that strategy you use during a match while you investigate."

Ash gave Lance a thumbs up before picking up the reprogrammed dex and walking out the door.

He did not even make it out the door before Pikachu who had been waiting patiently in the reception area jumped up onto his shoulder. "Pika…Pi!"

Ash grinned for a moment at his companion's excited greeting. "That right Pikachu! We are off to Hoenn!"

Pikachu nuzzled against his trainer for a moment before concentrating on his balancing act while Ash navigated the crowded halls of Indigo Plateau.

Once Ash managed to get out of the building and onto the grounds he selected one of his pokeballs. He threw it out "Pidgeot! Go!" In front of Ash a red beam of energy shot out of the pokeball. It formed into a large and majestic looking bird. Compared to other Pidgeot, this one was double the size. The bird took in its surroundings momentarily before it started to preen itself. Pidgeot took a moment to look at its master with a curious gaze before returning to preening itself.

Ash smiled at his giant bird's vanity. Some things just didn't change. "I am going to need a ride to Hoenn region Pidgeot." The giant bird knelt lower to the ground allowing Ash to climb onto the giant bird. Pikachu climbed into Ash's backpack for the flight and curled up to take a nap. Ash patted the bird on the back of the head to let it know he was on and ready.

With a few giant flaps of its wings the giant bird took off from Indigo Plateau. Pidgeot kicked up small dust devils as it gained altitude. Once Ash felt they were at a comfortable height he patted the bird again before holding onto some of the bird's feathers. "Alright Pidgeot! Set yourself up to cruising speed. " Ash knew full well if he did not specify their agreed upon cruising speed the giant bird would take it upon itself to beat it's old record. He hoped he would not beat Brock to the region by too much. Brock being a master of rock/ground pokemon would be taking a cruise ship into the harbor in Petalburg City. Ash had decided to start out in Littleroot Town and travel up to Petalburg city. As Pidgeot settled into a cruising speed the ride evened out and Ash allowed himself to relax. He let his mind wander…hoping against hope that Red was wrong when he informed him he heard of rumors from Hoenn of a new terrorist group starting up. Where Red was, Ash had no idea, but that was Red for you. All he knew that he was tasked with making sure this possible threat did not turn into something that may threaten Kanto or Johto.

Ash looked out over the vast tree tops below and could see the sparkling ocean in the distance to the left. First they would cross over Kanto then Johto. If he got lucky they would arrive in Hoenn by night fall.

A/N: Well there we go first chapter complete. May will be introduced in the next chapter near the end. Brock will appear in Petalburg City and will join them as well. Jesse and James will show up as well at some point. I for the most part have Ash's team picked out give or take a Pokemon. The rest have specific purposes and will not be changed. I am also giving Ash one legendary. The legendary will be Ash's ace in the hole and only be used in the most dire circumstances. I have one in mind but it may change. Read and review if you like. Following is alright as well. Thanks again.


	2. The Trouble with Littleroot

I will finally get some exiting battling in on this chapter I promise.

**Chapter 2 – The Trouble with Littleroot**

**Outside Littleroot Town -**

The sun was just starting to set when Ash spotted the familiar town of Littleroot. His previous travels as an Elite Ranger had never confined him just to Kanto and Johto. He knew Professor Birch on a professional level and hoped that he could crash at the Professor's house prior to moving on towards Petalburg City. "Almost there Pidgeot, please go ahead and land us over there in that field towards your right." Ash gestured to a field that was fairly clear of trees and shrubs that would put him just a little outside of Littleroot. He did not want to make a huge entrance, especially with how small the town was he did not need word of a new trainer's arrival by an oversized Pidgeot to reach ears of any less than desirable ears.

Pidgeot flapped its wings creating powerful gusts into the clearing as it gently touched down on a clear patch of the field. After Pidgeot lowered itself closer to the ground, Ash hopped off of the giant bird. He withdrew Pidgeot's pokeball and pointed it towards the giant bird. "Return Pidgeot and take a nice long rest." Pidgeot returned in a beam of red light.

Pikachu finally decided to wake up from his nap and crawled out of the top of Ash's back pack before yawning. "Piiiiiii…" Pikachu rubbed it's eyes with his paws momentarily before taking up his normal position on Ash's shoulder.

"You said it Pikachu. Let's get down to Littleroot and see if Professor Birch is around. I don't fancy a night outside." Ash absent mindedly rubbed Pikachu's head before he turned towards the direction of Littleroot town. Right before he was about to take off he heard laughter coming from the trees of to his right.

"Prepare for trouble!" Jessie shouted as she burst out of the tree line looking worse for the wear. Her hair a tangled mess and her white Team Rocket uniform was scuffed up with dirt and grass stains.

Ash turned towards the tree line with an exasperated sigh 'Just what I need…a visit from the fantastic duo.' He thought as Pikachu mirrored Ash's face.

Jessie stood there awkwardly…looking at Ash with a confused expression before turning back toward the tree line. She whisper shouted at her companion. "James! Get out here! He is here!"

James finally stumbled out of the tree line not looking much better than Jessie…in fact the dark bags under his eyes that Ash could easily make out even from 500 feet made him appear worse. James yawned deeply while speaking. "Yes and ahhh..make it double." James yawned deeply again.

Jessie's eye brow twitched briefly before her right hand came around in an open handed slap to the face. Ash watched with a cringe as James fell to the ground with a groan.

"Why do I bother!? If you are not going to participate in our agreed upon entrance then why do it at all!" Jessie screamed at her partner. James had the common sense to look guilty prior to replying. "But Jessie…you made me stand watch for the past two nights in a row…I'm tired." He whined while slowly pulling himself off the ground. All the while James eyed Jessie carefully for any further aggression.

Ash decided to step in before their bickering became full blown. Eyeing the Rocket agents he took a few steps towards them. Pikachu sat on Ash's shoulder, his eyes wandering across the field and tree line while his ears continued to rotate in an attempt to pick up any sound or movement. "So what do I owe the pleasure of two of Rockets finest agents?" Ash chuckled softly while shoving his hands in his pockets.

Jessie huffed while crossing her arms over her chest. James on the other hand glanced around quickly counting on Pikachu to pick up on any other people or Pokemon in the area. "We have information for you…or at least some news on Rocket's movement."

This caught Ash's interest and he started moving closer to the Rocket members until he was within arm's reach of the pair. "Oh…what kind of information...?"

Jessie smiled before she lowered her voice to a whisper. "Oh you know…something you will find interesting. Of course my memory is a little hazy…" Jessie trailed off while sticking her hand out.

Ash looked over at James with an expression that said 'Seriously?' in return James just shrugged his shoulders before replying to Ash's look. "She has been watching a lot of spy movies lately."

"Right…anyway." Ash slung his backpack off of one shoulder and reached his hand into the backpack. Unzipping a secret compartment, Ash reached in and grabbed an envelope provided to him by Red prior to leaving. He handed the plain envelope over to Jessie before reshouldering his back pack. "I need to know what Rocket is up to and any information you have on what is occurring with Hoenn."

Jessie was too busy ripping open the envelope to really pay attention to what Ash was asking. Leaving James to sigh in exasperation before speaking directly to Ash, ignoring Jessie in the back ground as she fantasized out loud about what she would spend the money on. "Nothing good. Even worse I fear Butch and Cassidy may be having doubts about our allegiance to Team Rocket's cause."

Jessie looked up from counting the money briefly growling slightly. "Fucking bitch needs to learn her own god damn place."

Ash and James glanced over to Jessie for a moment before James continued. "We are being cut out of important operations. As of now Team Rocket is too weak to go on by itself." At this James smiled slightly…despite being one of the survivors of Cinnabar Island and witnessing the destruction Ash caused he could respect his once opponent's skills. "There are two main powers here in Hoenn and they are vying for power. Rocket members are joining both but my contacts in both agencies are going dark."

James and Ash stood in silence for a moment, both mulling over the information that James was providing to Ash. Ash finally noticed something…Meowth the talking pokemon did not appear to be anywhere nearby. Normally by now the sarcastic little cat pokemon would have made some derogatory comment. "By the way where is Meowth…not that I miss his glowing personality but normally he is not too far from you two."

"Gone." Jessie glowered and stuffed the envelope in her pocket. "Cassidy had a special mission that she needed Meowth on…that was weeks ago though. We haven't seen or heard from Meowth since and Cassidy has been rather tight lipped about it."

Ash nodded slightly before looking over to James. "So anything more about these groups that are absorbing the remainder of the Rocket members from Kanto and Johto?"

"Nothing much just that they call themselves Team Magma and Team Aqua respectively that and there seems to be no love lost between the two. There have already been a number of skirmishes between the two and normally it happens at historical sites. I have no idea what they are looking for but it must be something important." James spoke while once again doing a quick scan of the area, looking for anything out of place.

Ash shot a smile to both the Rocket members before scratching the back of his head. "Well guys thanks for the information. Keep your ears to the ground and find me in Petalburg city if you have any further information." Ash's face turned serious after a moment of reflection. "Be careful, the both of you, I am not here just for fun and games. Also I am just Ash Ketchum while here in Hoenn." At the end Ash flashed a smile before turning away from the two and started to head towards Littleroot Town. Pikachu flashed the two Rocket Members a thumbs up from Ash's shoulder while crying out a good bye. "Pi! Pika! Pi!"

James and Jessie just shared a look of confusion when Ash announced he was not here as a Ranger but shrugged it off. They stayed in the clearing for a moment watching Ash depart before fading back into the tree line.

**Littleroot town –**

The street lights were starting to come on just as Ash and Pikachu stepped onto the main road into the town. Overall it was a quiet little town with only a few houses and businesses. Ash and Pikachu took in the little town that they had not been to in a few years. Overall the town had not changed much. In fact it almost completely mirrored his home town of Pallet. Ash deftly moved through the small groups of people on the street he got a few curious looks from some of the citizens. A new face in town was always interesting and the fact that he had a Pikachu riding on his shoulder made it doubly so.

Cursing a little bit under his breath, Ash hurried up and started heading towards the Lab of Professor Birch. Perhaps taking the main road was not the best call but it beat skirting around the town and possibly being thought of as an intruder by the town watch. Come to think of it…he had gotten rather lucky the whole trip here. He had not run into any wild pokemon, not that he was complaining but normally he had to fight off or kill a few anytime he was traveling between towns.

Ash continued to walk through the town and before he knew it he found himself at the door to the lab of Professor Birch. He raised his hand to knock on the door but just as he was about to bring his hand down on the door it opened up. Ash could not make out the figure due to the light coming through behind the person at the door.

"Ash…Ash Ketchum is that you?" Queried a confused voice from the doorway, before the figure slowly moved out of the light, letting Ash identify the individual as Professor Birch.

Ash laughed nervously while scratching the back of his head. "Hey Professor, long time no see. Would you mind if I come in?"

"Pi! Pikachu!" Pikachu greeted the professor with excitement; the little electric rodent waved one of its hands in greeting to the Professor.

"Haha…yes Pikachu it is great to see you as well. I hope you have been well." The Professor smiled as he ushered both of the weary travelers into the lab.

Once both were inside, Professor Birch quietly closed the door behind them before locking the door. He turned to Ash taking a moment to survey the young man he had not seen in person in well over three years. "So Ash! What brings an Elite Ranger to Hoenn region? I would think you would be busy back in Kanto with all the clean up after pushing Team Rocket out."

Ash shook his head before smiling at the Professor. "Well Professor that is why I am here actually."

"Oh? Trouble all the way in Hoenn?" The professor adopted a pensive expression as he led Ash into one of the smaller side labs where they could talk in private.

Following along behind the Professor Ash took a moment to compose himself and decide how much he wanted to bring the Professor into his mission. After a moment he figured Professor Birch could both be trusted and be a great resource on any happenings in the area. After all the Professor he was sure had his own sources of information. "Not trouble…not yet but Red tracked Rocket to Hoenn. A few of our sources have reported Rocket is regrouping here."

Ash took a moment to sit down in the small lab. The Professor took a seat at the lone work station. He hummed to himself momentarily before addressing the younger man again. "Well unfortunately I do not have any further information for you. I have heard some rumblings here or there of possible trouble but nothing substantial."

Both men took a moment to ponder on the issue before Ash spoke again. "Well anyway I am here to find out if anything is going on that Kanto needs to worry about. I am just here as Ash Ketchum a moderately decent trainer." He finished with a self-deprecating grin.

Even Professor Birch had to laugh at that. "Of course I will believe that! Lucky for you no one really knows you in this region." Birch's smile disappeared as he considered his next words. "Well…I should say only knows of your legends from Cinnabar." He patted the younger man on the shoulder in an attempt at comfort.

Ash's smile also disappeared, he never enjoyed reliving that day in anyway. It would be nice in a way that Hoenn did not really know of him in any substantial way. He could just blend in and be Ash. Trying to put up another smile he continued with his point. "Well Professor I will be heading out to Petalburg City tomorrow. I figure I will cut through Oldale Town on my way. If you could provide a room tonight it would be appreciated."

The Professor smiled. "Of course Ash, I can set you up in the guest bedroom!" He paused for a moment before his smile turned into a grin. "Though…if you don't mind I have a favor to ask."

Ash's face grew visibly nervous. With the accident prone and act first professor, a favor, could be a scary thing indeed. "S..Sure…Professor…what can I do?" Even Pikachu's face looked nervous as both remembered the Professor's last "favor" that landed them returning a lost Aron to it's parent. That of course led them to facing off against two angry Aggrons.

Professor Birch must have noticed their faces as he laughed. "Nothing too bad I promise! I just have a package I need delivered to Petalburg Gym! The gym leader's daughter was going to come down here to pick it up but I figure since you are here…"

Both Ash and Pikachu looked visibly relieved as they both sighed. Ash then threw the professor a smile. "Of course Professor…but Professor what about the gym leader's daughter?"

Professor Birch got up and started leading them out of the lab and towards the house portion of the lab and up to the guest room. "Well she left this morning…she is probably in Oldale tonight. As long as you leave early in the morning you should be able to intercept her!"

Ash nodded before bidding the Professor a good night. He just managed to kick off his shoes before collapsing in the bed. After the long journey he passed out before even eating anything since lunch yesterday. Right before he fell asleep he hoped that the Professor had a large breakfast ready for him in the morning.

**Petalberg City – earlier that day**

"May! If you are going to get to Littleroot by tomorrow afternoon you are going to have to get a move on missy!"

May groaned as she pulled herself out of her nice warm bed. The brunette had taken a "short" cat nap after breakfast to recharge her energy prior to leaving for Littleroot. The cat nap had turned into a 4 hour mini coma. "Just wrapping up packing Mom!"

"Of course sweetie!" Her mother called up the stairs in between giggles.

May just grumbled before she hurriedly threw a few things into a bag that she thought she needed for the journey. She took a moment to look at herself in the mirror. She spun for a moment taking in her outfit. She wore a red polo shirt and a pair of blue biking shorts. She threw on her backpack and tied her red bandana on over her hair. After taking one last look she made sure to clip her pokeballs to the magnetic belt around her waist.

When she appeared downstairs she waved a friendly good afternoon to both her parents before she sat down at the table. Like a ravenous growlithe she tore into the food her mother had left out for her. Both parents laughed in amusement as her brother Max slowly edged away and out of reach.

"Take a breath May…geez" Max grumbled before he started fiddling with his pokedex. He was home taking a few weeks off from traveling before he restarted his journey. At the time he only had three pokeballs around his waist but he wasn't too concerned he had only started recently.

May threw a glare towards her brother before she finished up…leaving a table missing half its contents. "Thanks for the food mom! I will call you when I get to Oldale!" With that May rushed out the door.

"Be careful!" Norman yelled out the door before sighing in exasperation. He always worried about his daughter. She had never been completely together in the safety department. He also secretly worried about her safety since he knew she concentrated more on contest moves than actual battling.

Caroline smiled at her husband and instantly read his face. "Dear, May has been traveling alone for the past six years. I think that she can handle herself." She kissed her husband on the cheek not paying attention to their son as Max made gagging sounds.

"I know…I know I just worry…sometimes that girl has her head in the clouds." Norman shook his head once again debating the decision to send her off for the package from Professor Birch.

**-Between Petalburg and Oldale.**

May sighed in boredom as she walked along the route towards Oldale. The path was completely deserted which was not a huge surprise since Oldale was not exactly a prime travel location. More for companionship than protection May threw out a pokeball. "Blaziken! Go!" The tall human shaped bird pokemon appeared in a beam of red light. Immediately it surveyed the area for any danger to it's master.

"Calm down Blaziken! I just needed some companionship." The girl smiled before lightly punching the pokemon's shoulder. Blaziken nodded before it fell in step next to it's trainer. The pokemon kept an ever vigilant watch over the area.

They continued for some time until Oldale came into view ahead of them. May sighed with relief…not only had she not run into any trouble…mostly due to Blaziken's intimidating presence but the sun was just setting.

May hurried along towards the pokemon center with Blaziken trailing behind. Within minutes she had gotten her room for the night and ended up having a large meal at the center prior to going to bed early in hopes to hit the road early. If she actually stuck to schedule she could probably get back to Petalburg tomorrow night if she pushed on all day.

**Littleroot town – Next Morning.**

Ash woke up with a groan. After flying all day yesterday his muscles protested his every movement. Taking a moment to stretch himself out he slowly picked himself out of bed. The moment he did however his stomach started to gurgle.

Taking only a moment to change out his clothing for a fresh pair he hurried down the stairs already smelling breakfast. The electric rodent not far behind him in his quest for food.

When Ash came into the kitchen he saw a feast laid out in front of him. Birch's wife Ana stood by the stove smiling at Ash's face when he skidded to a halt inside the kitchen. "Good Morning Ash…my husband said you arrived last night right after dinner. I knew you would be starving if you did not have dinner last night." She finished with a laugh.

Ash could only nod as he fell upon the food much like a certain Brunette had done the day before at her residence. Ana could only look on in amusement as the young man ate as if he had been starved for weeks.

Birch appeared in the doorway with a small package wrapped up in brown paper just as Ash had finished. He smiled before dropping the package in front of Ash. "Much appreciated Ash! Looks like you enjoyed breakfast."

Ash could only nod as he finished up the remaining food on his plate before sending a disarming smile to Ana. "Thank you Mrs. Birch! I haven't eaten this well since I was home last."

Ana smiled before looking at her husband in an expectant matter, she then started pointing to the messy dishes strewn across the kitchen, the kitchen looked like a war zone. "Looks like it is your turn to do the dishes dear since I made the meal!"

Birch's face fell into despair as he surveyed the damage done by Ash. It appeared that Ana had used the entire collection of pots and pans to cook up the feast for the young trainer. He turned to Ash laughing slightly. "Well looks like I am on kitchen duty. I am sure you can find your way out?"

Ash could only snicker over the Professor's unintended predicament before nodding to the professor. "Of course Professor…thanks again for the room and the information…I will contact you if I find anything else out." His face turned somber for a moment before a gigawatt smile returned as he faced Ana. "And thank you Mrs. Birch! The meal really helped fuel us up for our adventure!"

"Pi Pika!" Pikachu agreed from the floor before hopping onto his trainer's shoulder.

Ana smiled at both of the guests before she turned towards the front door and started to lead Ash and Pikachu out of the lab, both travelers following her. "Well thanks Ash, I am always happy to cook for you two! My husband never fully appreciates my cooking like you."

With that Ash left the lab and Littleroot town behind as he headed towards Oldale town. He waved over his shoulder one last time before disappearing across the horizon.

**Somewhere outside Oldale Town – Next Morning**

May groaned as she walked down another path hoping to see some semblance of civilization. "How did I manage to get myself lost?!" She groaned as once again she took what looked to be a correct path. She had only been to Littleroot town once or twice in her life so she thought she would just remember the way. Instead she took the first path that looked right and when she tried to course correct she had ended up deeper in the woods. At this point she was starting to get skived out and just wanted to see some sign of human life.

Up ahead she suddenly heard human voices. "Alright! Perhaps they can point me on the right path." The brunette muttered to herself in relief. Not even stopping to survey the scene May burst out of the thin copse of trees separating her from the human voices. "Hi! I am totally lost can you point me towards…" Her voice petered off as she surveyed the scene.

Laid out before her looked to be an excavation project. There were two Onix burrowing into the ground with their tails and a mass of Gravelers digging out the holes that the Onix were creating. Surrounding the pokemon there were close to 15 people dressed in weird red and black garb she had never seen before anywhere. To make it worse she noticed a rather large pack of Houndoom patrolling the area just out of her position. May suddenly had a bad feeling and was regretting her decision to just burst out of the tree line.

The two groups just stared at each other in disbelief for a moment. The members of Team Magma surprised anyone had come this deep into this section of the forest and that their Houndoom had not picked up on her before she managed to actually get to their site.

May spoke first in an attempt to get herself out of the sticky situation. "Well…I will just see my way out…" She started to back out of the clearing slowly but surely. Right before she cleared the trees she heard one of the Magma member's orders.

The leader of the site growled in frustration. Just what he needed…or did not need witnesses. "Houndoom!" He pointed towards the girl who was rapidly retreating. "Kill her! Make it look like an attack by a wild pokemon!" The Houndoom may not have gotten the exact words behind the order but they understood the meaning, kill the intruder.

May just had enough time to see over 12 Houndoom approaching her at a rapid pace. Knowing that not even her pokemon could handle that many at once she followed her only option. The brunette turned on a dime and plunged into the tree line running head first crashing through underbrush without a second thought. 'I am going to die.' This was the only thought running through her head as she kept pushing herself forward. Behind her she could hear the Houndoom hot on her tail.

She finally crashed through the tree line and landed on the main path. The sudden change from the spongy forest ground to the hard packed down dirt of the main road caused her to lose her balance. She fell into a tumble and landed on her back staring up at the sky. She groaned for a moment before she pulled herself back up. The moment she pushed herself off her back she stopped before her the Houndoom had caught up to her and were advancing quickly. They started to enclose her in a half circle, blocking her ability to move left or right. In another moment she knew the pack would surround her completely. 'Not good not good.' She thought in her head.

Her left hand slowly moved towards one of her pokeballs…her Venasaur…if she could release her pokemon she could at least take a few down with her before one got through Venasaur's defenses. A deep growl from one of the Houndoom stopped her in her tracks. She did the only thing she could at this point. "Somebody help me!" She screamed out hoping against hope someone would hear her despite the path being completely deserted in both directions as far as the eye could see.

The Houndoom paused for a moment as if they too were worried that her scream would draw unwanted attention. After a moment they came to the consensus that no one would be appearing last minute. The lead Houndoom jumped in the air towards the young girl ready to end her life by tearing her throat out.

Route 101 – in between Littleroot and Oldale

Ash groaned as he continued to trudge onwards. He really needed to invest in a bike either that or get a less obvious flying pokemon to ferry him around. The argument against flying though was that he would not be able to investigate any oddities he found on the road if he just went around flying everywhere. 'I suppose I could use Arcanine but he probably would not appreciate being used as a taxi service.' He grumbled in his head about the proud lion dog pokemon. In fact knowing his luck Arcanine would dump him off somewhere in a river in response to using him as transportation. Pikachu kept alert on his shoulder, his ears constantly swiveling around looking for some kind of danger.

"I think I need to get in better shape Pikachu…I don't think I have walked this much in months." Pikachu took a moment away from his trainer before nodding and pointing towards Ash's stomach. "Piiiiika…Pi."

Ash glared at the little electric rodent. "Are you calling me fat!"

"Piiika! Pi! Pikachuuuu." The little rodent responded with a grin and a shrug of its little shoulders.

"Well if you think I am so out of shape I believe your ketchup rations may be cut off soon." Ash ended with a smirk. He knew it was a low blow but desperate times called for desperate measures.

"Piiiiiiiiiiiiii!" Pikachu's face registered shock before he almost fell off of Ash's shoulder.

Ash was about to retort to the small pokemon when he felt a psychic voice connect with his mind. _"Ash…I feel a dark disturbance ahead. I fear there may be a group of dark pokemon ahead. I cannot pierce their minds to find out what is occurring. There is another individual just ahead of them though and she is registering extreme distress." _Gardevoir spoke through a psychic link she created.

Sometimes Ash really hated when she did this but other times he was thankful that she always seemed to be scanning the area even while resting in her pokeball.

Without a word Ash started running further up the path towards where the incident Gardevoir had indicated was occurring. As he came up over the ridge he immediately saw a girl on the ground surrounded by a pack of Houndoom. Immediately he threw forth a pokeball as he continued to run closer to the action. He knew only one pokemon could get there in time to make a difference. "Arcanine! Go!" The giant dog lion took form in front of Ash and immediately saw the Houndoom.

Just as Arcanine formed, Ash saw the lead Houndoom leaping into the air ready to rip the young girls throat out. "Arcanine extreme speed! Intercept that Houndoom!" In a blinding flash of light Arcanine took off like a rocket towards the fight ahead.

May knew it was all over the moment the Houndoom leapt towards her…she closed her eyes in preparation for her end. Right as she felt a shadow over her she all of a sudden heard a surprised yelp. Opening her eyes she saw a giant Arcanine in front of her. In between its powerful jaws it held the Houndoom which was struggling in an attempt to get free. This ended a moment later when the Arcanine chomped down with its powerful jaws. The Houndoom fell out of Arcanine's mouth in pieces. Dark blood ran down Arcanine's muzzle as it stomped one of its heavy front paws down on the eviscerated Houndoom's upper body ending its life completely.

"Oh thank heavens…" May blew out her breath momentarily…that was until she realized that now the remaining Houndoom had regrouped and started to surround the larger pokemon. The Arcanine for his credit glared at the smaller pokemon like they were a blight upon this earth. His baleful glare turning to any Houndoom that started to come any closer.

Ash witnessed Arcanine's total destruction of the lead Houndoom with a smirk. 'That should really set the tone for the Houndoom.' Once he was in range for Gardevoir and Lucario he took two more pokeballs and threw them forwards.

"Go! Gardevoir use teleport and remove that girl from the battlefield!" With a nod the psychic pokemon disappeared. She momentarily reappeared by the girl before disappearing with her and reappearing with her next to Ash. "Gardevoir take care of her!" Ash turned to the second pokemon as he watched Arcanine withdrew until he was in front of Ash and the young girl. "Lucario back up Arcanine…remember no mercy they are not holding back."

"_Of course Ash." _He heard both Lucario and Gardevoir acknowledge his command.

Lucario came up next to Arcanine who despite the advantage of power was having a hard time keeping the Houndoom corralled in one area. The Houndoom kept trying to flank the large fire dog lion. "Doom" One of the Houndoom growled before the Houndoom reigned fire down upon Arcanine and Lucario.

"Lucario block it metal sound!" Lucario acknowledged the order before he opened his mouth before emitting a metal screech at the incoming flames. The flames were disrupted by the air waves and were snuffed out before reaching Lucario.

Arcanine on the other hand took the flames and immediately fire seemed to seep out of his fur in response. If anything Arcanine looked annoyed at the flames that were lapping around him but most just slid off his skin without affecting the giant lion dog.

Ash grinned as Arcanine's blaze was activated. "Alright show them a real flame thrower!" Ash briefly watched as Arcanine drew in a large breath of air before spewing forth a solid stream of fire towards the pack of Houndoom. The fire did not do much damage but it did intimidate the Houndoom quite effectively due to the ferocity of the flames. Ash turned his attention completely to Lucario trusting that Arcanine could continue the fight without much more direction. "Alright Lucario extreme speed into the middle of the pack…set off a wide radius aura sphere and follow it up with a close combat strike!"

While Arcanine kept the pack as a whole busy Lucario blew into the middle of the pack in a burst of speed while charging his aura sphere. The Houndoom were just reacting to the new arrival when the blue jackal pokemon let loose the pulse of aura sphere that spread out from the epicenter in all directions. The super effective attack blew the Houndoom back. Lucario followed this up by coming in close to one of the Houndoom that took the most damage. With a quick jab he drove the spikes on the back of both hands into the Houndoom's chest. The fire dog let out a gurgle as blood started to fill it's lungs. Lucario withdrew back to Arcanine's side before the Houndoom could response with a wall of fire that hit the spot Lucario was standing in a moment ago.

May finally pulled herself out of her own stupor from the near death experience. She pulled herself off the ground while looking at her savior. She was amazed at the calm and collected manner the young man was dealing with this fight. Taking a moment to survey the scene she saw that young trainer's pokemon had killed two of the Houndoom so far and heavily damaged the remaining eleven. Still it was a eleven on two fight and no matter what the level the Arcanine and Lucario could not keep up dodging or just taking the hits forever.

Making up her mind she threw out two pokeballs and out came Wartortle and Glaceon. The moment they appeared before their trainer they were shocked by the scene before them. They were startled out of their stupor by May's command. "Wartortle back up Arcanine and Lucario! Hit any of those Houndoom you can with Water gun!" Wartortle grunted in acknowledgement before it started picking out targets and hitting them with blasts of water from its mouth.

"Now Glaceon start off with icy wind!" A chill wind blew across the battlefield causing most of the Houndoom to shiver slightly as they felt sluggish despite their being a fire type. "Now start picking out targets and hit them from afar with Ice shard!" With that Glaceon mirrored Wartortle's attack pattern and started to try and pick off Houndoom that strayed too far around the flanks of Arcanine and Lucario.

"Thanks for the assistance, this will make life easier." Ash smiled towards the girl who seemed to be up and no longer stunned by her near death experience. He turned his attention to Gardevoir. "Keep Arcanine and Lucario protected with light screen when you can. If any of them get too close to us…hyper beam them into the ground."

"_Of course Ash." _ The floating psychic type turned her attention to the battlefield. This was one of the rare instances she was almost completely useless in a fight further than defensive moves.

Ash surveyed the battlefield with the addition of May's pokemon the tide had begun to swing the other way. Glaceon just decapitated one of the remaining Houndoom with a large shard of ice. While Arcanine tore into a Houndoom with its jaws and held down another one with one of its enormous paws while ignoring the other Houndoom's flame thrower attacks. Lucario had finished off another Houndoom by stabbing it through the throat with one of its hand spikes.

"Alright Lucario finish the rest off with another aura sphere across the entire area. Arcanine finish it up with a flame charge. Leave no survivors!" Ash yelled out to his pokemon. Despite both pokemon's power he knew they both could not go on forever.

Lucario blasted the remaining Houndoom off their collective feet with another super effective attack and before they could recover Arcanine started it's attack. The few Houndoom left alive were immediately trampled to death under the heavy feet of Arcanine as it ran through the downed dog pokemon. Arcanine finished off one of the last remaining Houndoom with its giant paw crushing the wind pipe of a piteous Houndoom making whimpers of pain.

After Ash was satisfied that none of the Houndoom remaining still drew breath he quickly recalled Gardevoir, Lucario and Arcanine. "Take a long rest guys." He sagged with exhaustion from the stress of the battle. Pikachu still sat on his shoulder surveying the region for any further trouble.

He finally turned his attention to May as she recalled her Wartortle but left her Glaceon out for personal protection. After what had occurred just recently no one could blame her. Ash sent a disarming smile towards the young girl. "Ash Ketchum…at your service, I hope you are alright?"

May's breath hitched slightly as she turned to the trainer. "May…my name is May."

Ash smiled…so this was the girl that was originally supposed to pick up the package from Professor Birch. "Well that works out well! I actually just came from Professor Birch's lab. He gave me this package to drop off to the Petalburg gym leader." With that he pulled out the package from his back pack before handing it over to May.

"Thank you…well that saves me a trip to Littleroot Town." May glanced around for a moment surveying the battlefield. Normally such sights did not really affect her but this was just a little too close for comfort. She pushed her hands behind her back and rocked back and forth on her heels for a moment unsure how to ask him to accompany her so she just went for it. "If you are still heading to Petalburg…would you mind traveling with me?"

Ash surveyed the young girl for a moment before Pikachu responded for him. "Pika! Pikachu! Pi!" The yellow electric rodent excitedly before giving her a thumbs up.

"Well I guess that is a yes." The Kanto trainer laughed as he scratched the back of his head.

A/N: A little longer than I had planned but there really was not a good way of breaking up the chapter without cutting out most of the action. Well now we have 5 out of Ash's 7 pokemon. Again I have some ideas for the 6th and 7th. I may put up a poll for the last pokemon and the legendary if anyone cares. If not I will decide eventually. Hope everyone reading this enjoys it. Next chapter will be some investigation in Oldale Town for Ash but most of it will be another battle before Petalburg and if I have time some part of the adventures in Petalburg City.


	3. The Petalburg Hustle

Well so far Umbreon is winning for Ash's 6th Pokemon…mostly because I have only one vote total. So just throwing it out there Umbreon may be the winner by default if I need the pokemon in the next chapter or two.

Chapter 3 – Petalburg Hustle

Route 101 – in between Littleroot and Oldale

Ash surveyed the dead Houndoom that littered the area one last time that rested across the path. Anyone that came across this mess would think a slaughter occurred and in a way one had. Finally he turned to May who seemed to come across the same conclusion.

"So…not to get too personal but do you normally run into strangers with a pack of Pokemon on their heels trying to rip their throat out?" Ash tried to diffuse the situation by sending the girl a disarming grin and putting his hands behind his head. Pikachu just sighed at his trainer's less than swift attempt to change the mood.

May shook herself out of her thoughts before looking at the young man that saved her. She forced a smile onto her face before reaching down and petting Glaceon after the Eevee evolution rubbed against its trainer. "Well…I ran into some people that did not take kindly to my intrusion on their activities…really weird too they had a whole bunch of rock types just digging into the ground." May finished speaking with a shrug.

Nodding once Ash took a look towards the tree lines where May had come from. His face became serious as he debated going in to investigate further. If he had been alone he would have investigated without a doubt. The dark haired trainer glanced at the girl 'Two tired pokemon and a girl of unknown quality in a real battle.' He thought silently not daring to voice his thoughts to the girl. After a moment longer he decided it would be best to press on to Oldale and rest up before making the remainder of the journey to Petalburg. "Well…we should probably get moving to Oldale if we want to make it there by dinner. That and I rather get out of here before the owners show up." Ash Pointed at the dead Houndoom with a jerk of his hand in their general direction.

May nodded before she started heading back towards Oldale…on the main road this time! She carefully skirted around the dead bodies. They may not be moving any longer but that did not mean they had not just tried to kill her. She glanced back to make sure Ash was following her. Luckily the trainer was dutifully following her and did not show any sign of taking off leaving her alone.

After a few minutes of travel further down the road the battle scene was no longer in view. May noted that Ash seemed completely comfortable with the silence but that did not mean she was. In fact she hated silence the most. Even worse that Glaceon had taken it upon herself to take point leaving her alone with the strange trainer and his Pikachu. "So…" May started out awkwardly, noticing Ash's head jerked up. She had probably startled him out of thought but she did not particularly care she just wanted conversation to fill the dead space. "What brings you to Kanto? And how exactly do you know Professor Birch he just doesn't give packages to a random guy going to Petalburg! On top of that where did you get those Pokemon I don't recognize any of them! And…" She was cut off by laughter which caused her to glare at the trainer. She was disappointed it just caused him to laugh harder.

Grinning at the girl he shook himself out of his thoughts before laughing again at all her questions. "Calm down May. I will answer all your questions…just give me a minute." He waved his arms in a downwards motion attempting to placate the energetic girl. "I am from Kanto, I am here to challenge the Hoenn league so I need to visit the gyms, I have traveled across all the regions so all my pokemon are from different areas, and I am friends with Professor Birch on a professional level."

May nodded slightly as she listened to his answers. All and all they made sense to her…then she paused for a moment in her thoughts. A smile slide across her face causing Ash to look at Pikachu…slightly worried about what this may mean and what it has to do with his answers.

"Uh…May…." The dark haired trainer ventured hoping against hope he did not provide some kind of offensive answer.

"Hmm…so Ash…since you are planning on getting all the gym badges, you will be traveling right….." She left the sentence hanging for a moment awaiting his confirmation.

Nodding a little, Ash turned to Pikachu who simply shrugged before going back to sentry duty. "Well yeah…"

"Then you can travel with me!" May practically yelled in excitement before flashing a million watt smile at the young man.

"Er…" "Pikaaaaaaa" Ash and Pikachu did a double take at her before Ash spoke up. "Don't you mean you traveling with me?" He said questioned while jerking his thumb at himself and Pikachu.

May laughed slightly at her slight mix up in wording before getting back on task. 'If I get him to agree perhaps Dad will finally let me travel away from the area.' She practically jumped up and down with excitement. There was no way her Dad could deny her a chance to travel outside the area now that she was traveling with such a strong trainer. "Yes! Exactly! If you let me travel with you not only do you get all the inside tips on the gym leaders but I will even throw in the chance to see me compete in Pokemon competitions!"

He could have sworn he saw her eyes go all starry by the time she finished her rambling proposal. He glanced again at Pikachu but Pikachu continued to stand straight on his shoulder not even acknowledging the conversation. "Traitor." He muttered so only Pikachu could hear him. The little electric rodent only twitched his one ear in acknowledgement.

Sighing Ash turned to May who seemed to be watching his every move awaiting his answer. He mulled it over for a moment in his head. 'On one hand it may throw off the people I am investigating and provide a more plausible cover. On the other hand I am putting this girl in danger and seriously…how are Pokemon competitions a plus.' He shook his head before looking at the expectant May.

"No." Ash said before resolutely staring ahead and not in any way looking towards May.

May looked at Ash in shock for a moment. 'No? No? That can't be right! I need him or else I can't travel to the cities and the competitions. If I can't get to the real competitions then I will rot away in Petalburg…or worse take over the gym from Dad!' The last thought was followed by a shudder.

Ash noticed that May's eyes hardened when he took a quick glance over. 'Oh yeah that is not good.' He thought while trying to ignore the girl. Up ahead he thought he could just see the outskirts of Oldale and make out the Pokemon Center's red roof on the edge of town.

Unfortunately for Ash looking ahead did not assist him. "Ash…I need to travel with you! My dad will not let me travel without a companion and the only person available is Drew and he is kinda an asshole. Do you want to leave me traveling with an asshole?" May questioned Ash with a dangerous glare…just daring him to contradict her statement.

"Well…no…" He ventured mostly against his will.

May flashed him a smile. "See I knew you would see it my way! It is settled when we get into Petalburg you will come meet my father and tell him that you will personally see to my safety during my travels. He is a little overprotective is all, I won't be a burden at all." Her smile turned in a slightly frightening grin as she looked towards Ash. "If you don't agree I will just follow you and if I get hurt my father will not be happy."

Ash scratched the back of his head while laughing off May's threatening tone at the end. 'How do I get myself into these situations…if Lance knew half the shit I got myself into I would never hear the end of it.' He could not really think of a way out of this that would not end up with either an angry May or her father trying to kill him.

"Well…I guess welcome aboard May." He said in a tentative voice.

"Pika! Pi Pikachu!" Pikachu was much more enthusiastic with his acceptance. Finally coming out of his practically stone state the little yellow traitor jumped from Ash's shoulder into May's arms.

"Traitor." Ash muttered under his breath for the second time today. Thank goodness they were coming up on the pokemon center. Glaceon was running back to their position now that they were out of the wild.

May smiled before hugging the small yellow pokemon to her chest. "Well Pikachu I am glad you are with me on this!" She smiled at Ash before following him into the Pokemon center.

Ten minutes later Ash had left Arcanine, Lucario, and Gardevoir with Nurse Joy to rest up. They also got a double room that had two mini bedrooms and shared a small living room area. Mostly on account of there were few trainers in the area and Ash was not exactly thrifty with his wages from Kanto.

Route 101 – Team Magma

The leader growled slightly as he surveyed the battle. "What the fuck happened here and where the fuck is that girl!" He questioned to no one in particular as he looked upon the dead Houndoom.

"There is no way she could have killed this many Houndoom without getting injured." He paused for a moment while thinking. From this road the girl would have most likely gone to either Littleroot or Oldale. 'Most likely the little bitch would go to Oldale and report this to the Police…wait a second.' His face lit up with realization.

"You two." He pointed to two of his weaker trainers under his command. "Head to Littleroot see if you can find the little whore and make sure she doesn't speak." The two nodded before turning towards Littleroot and jogging off.

The commander grinned as he addressed his remaining command. "That little bitch is the Petalburg City's gym leader's daughter. I don't know how she managed to get out of this trap but we won't under estimate her next time. If we travel through the night we can intercept her in between Oldale and Petalburg. "With a nod his command headed out towards route 102 hoping for a good place to ambush her. She would learn the power of Team Magma In more ways than just through their Pokemon.

Oldale Town – Pokemon Center

"Night Ash!" May smiled before she headed towards her small room. She giggled slightly the moment she closed the door. If her Dad only knew that she was technically sharing a room with a cute boy he would probably have an aneurism over it. She quickly changed into her pajamas before slipping in under her covers and falling into a blissful sleep.

Ash nodded towards May's departing figure before he went into his own room. Pikachu was already curled up on his pillow. He smiled slightly before stripping down to his boxers and also falling into his bed. The last few days had been kind of exhausting even with the full nights rest at Littleroot.

The moment he fell asleep Ash was tormented by his dreams of the past. He started to toss and turn slightly in his bed.

_Ash looked around the area. The buildings were half torn down from the battles going on around him. Anything that was not already turned into rubble was on fire. In fact nothing left over on the streets was left untouched in some way. He could not believe a week ago he had landed on Cinnabar Island with Lance, his cousin, a few gym leaders, and a squadron of elite trainers from the Kanto/Johto league. _

_Blaine had sent out an emergency S.O.S. requesting back up. He had informed the league that an entire Rocket operation and base had appeared on his island seemingly overnight. The semi crazy fire type loving scientist had not taken kindly to the intrusion. Blaine and his gym members were holding the line for now but he had informed the league Cinnabar would fall without heavy reinforcements. The last thing the league wanted was Cinnabar Island fully under Rocket control. So they had rushed out the trainers they could spare headed by Lance. A few gym leaders on friendly terms with Blaine that were not otherwise occupied with Red's campaign in Neon Town. _

_Ash and Leaf were two of the Elite Rangers selected to go in with the troops. Now Leaf was lost somewhere in this fire fight and he had to find her. _

_Breathing was already becoming difficult…probably in part due to Blaine's overzealous defense when Team Rocket launched a surprise attack from their secret Cinnabar base. Blaine apparently subscribed to the theory of burn baby burn. Coughing slightly Ash wiped away some of the soot from the corners of his mouth as he advanced further into the burned out urban landscape. Just as he reached another intersection he heard a cry from his side. "Choke…" The Machoke glared at Ash before it started to charge him. Ash grunted as he prepared himself for hand to hand combat. _

_Luckily Gardevoir appeared next to Ash and used psychic to slam the Machoke into the ground before his neck suddenly twisted of it's own accord leaving the Machoke completely still. Ash did not even have a chance to thank his pokemon before she teleported back into the battle against Team Rocket's numerous fighting types. 'Where the fuck are they' Ash thought as he looked around. Those bastards had Leaf and to hell if he would lose her to Rocket after they took his mother. _

_Ash had made it 10 city blocks before two Rocket Dragonites rose above some of the buildings. The two Dragonites started to decimate the surrounding Kanto Trainers and Ash knew that Lance was otherwise engaged or he would leave it to Lance. With a growl at any kind of delay he threw forth two pokeballs. "Salamence! Charizard! Go! Destroy the Dragonites!" _

_He continued to move forward looking for any sign of Leaf. He heard the roar of acknowledgment from his two dragons in the back ground. The sounds of the dragons battling faded as he continued onwards. The streets were abnormally quiet despite the obvious signs of ongoing battles. _

_After what felt like hours of travel but was probably less than 15 minutes he came upon a square. Within the square stood Leaf…bound in chains in front of a Rocket operative. By Leaf also bound in what appeared to be black chains was a pokemon he had never seen before. It stood at about human height but had a purple tail and oddly shaped joints. He could not identify the pokemon due to the black armor it wore. He could only assume the pokemon was captive as well. Surrounding the armored Pokemon he noted that there were four Absol one in each direction keeping it hemmed in. _

_He started to hurry towards the group as he reached out to Lucario and Gardevoir over his link. "Quickly I need you both to me, I found Leaf! Oh God LUCARIO GARDEVOIR!" Ash could only cry out across his mental link as he watched the lead Rocket operative jab a large hunting knife into her back before pushing it up further into her body. The man grinned at Ash when he saw the Ranger running into the square. "And the hero fails." He yelled out to the Ranger with a laugh. _

"_LEAF!" Ash screamed as he forwent all pretenses of his own safety running towards the Rocket members and the pack of Absol completely alone. "LEAF!" _

_Leaf's eyes locked onto Ash's for a moment. Her eyes shining with unshed tears as she coughed attempting to speak. Only blood came out of her mouth. Small flecks spitting forth before blood started to run down the corners of her mouth. She tried to smile at Ash…he always came in time…always. _

_She felt her eyes becoming heavy as felt conscience start to slip away. She wanted to stay awake for Ash for when he beat the Rocket scum…but she was just so tired. 'Just close your eyes for a moment…just a little you will wake up and Ash will save you just like always.' She knew even as she thought it that she was lying to herself. She knew she was near the end but she was so tired. _

_Ash watched helplessly as Leaf collapsed to the ground. Her skin was already becoming pale and he could see a pool of blood slowly leaking out from around her. Just a little too late Lucario and __Gardevoir appeared. "Kill them…kill them all!" His order was barely a whisper but the two pokemon started in on attack. Lucario kept three of the Absol busy while Gardevoir used her psychic powers to turn the Rocket operatives brain's to mush since the dark types were indisposed. Ash could only see red…he had tackled the remaining Absol that was still guarding the armored pokemon heedless of the pokemon attempting to stab him with its bladed head. _

"_Fucking die you piece of shit!" He screamed as his hands wrapped around the Absol's neck. It continued to struggle scrabbling at him with its claws even trying to beat at him with its tail but Ash continued on. Bearing down on the Absol he felt the vertebrae in the Absol's neck start to crack. _

_Finally the Absol stopped struggling. Ash only let up when he felt another link touch his mind that was not Lucario's or Gardevoir's. He glanced up noticing the Lucario was finishing up with the last Absol and Gardevoir was currently attempting to stop Leaf's bleeding. _

"_She is gone young Ash…" The unfamiliar voice spoke slowly as the armored pokemon slowly walked over to Leaf's prone body. It regarded the human for a moment…curious before slowly kneeling down and gently closing blank unseeing her eyes. "She tried to save me." _

_It spoke more as a question than a statement. Ash just nodded slightly as he moved over to Leaf's body and knelt down by her. Despite what the armored pokemon just did he shook her slightly…hoping somehow he would get a response. Just looking at the blood pooling around the girl he knew she would never wake again. He just sat there for a moment staring at her dead body. The blood continued to leak out from the knife still in her back from when they rushed Team Rocket. _

_After a few moments of silence he felt the pokemon speak again. "I am Mewtwo…I was created from Mew. Team Rocket planned on using me to awaken Moltres to end the resistance on this island. Your friend attempted to rescue me when I tired of their use of my powers." The psychic pokemon finished through the link before staring down at the dead girl. "Her pokemon were killed and they captured her…she was a brave soul I am sorry Ash Ketchum." It spoke relevantly of the dead girl. _

_For a moment Ash was silent as he finally looked up to Cinnabar Mountain. "Can you do it?"_

_Mewtwo understood what the trainer desired…he wanted revenge and the utter destruction of Team Rocket. It was written across the Ranger's face and it did not even require him to dig below the surface thoughts. "Of course…for a little while but I will lose control when Moltres fully wakes up. As you know a legendary cannot control another legendary."_

_The black haired man nodded a little before staring at Mewtwo with rage and the thirst for revenge. "Do it…burn them all…make them feel my pain." Ash glanced at Mewtwo and then took in the broken looks of Lucario and Gardevoir both had been found of Leaf. "Our pain." He amended quietly. _

_Mewtwo nodded. "Keep me protected and I will grant your wish. Once Rocket is wiped off the island though I plan on disappearing before too many questions are asked about how Moltres appeared. I would like to live out a life…of solitude." _

_Nodding Ash turned to Gardevoir and Lucario. "Keep him protected while he controls Moltres you two." Looking over to Mewtwo he shot the armored pokemon a smirk despite the fact he was crumbling on the inside. "Just have Moltres follow me from above. I will call out the targets as I see them." His eyes slowly drifted back to Leaf as he attempted to hold in his grief which was slowly replaced by even more rage._

"_I won't tell them anything…no worries Mewtwo…" Ash said quietly before he turned to Mewtwo. "I never saw you." With that Ash slowly pushed himself off the ground looking down upon Leaf's body before turning towards Rocket's line. "Burn them all…Pokemon, Trainers, Women, Children, Rocket's labors, and anyone else aligned with Rocket. There are no innocents only bodies that do not realize they are dead yet. Mewtwo's eyes glowed a bright blue and in the distance the Cinnabar volcano erupted in a slew of lava and ashes. Out of the ashes rose Moltres a legendary fire bird. Enraged at its forced awakening the bird flew high into the atmosphere before Mewtwo subjected it's will upon the legendary bird. Ash started walking towards the main base of Rocket operations. _

_Above Ash, Moltres hovered…it's eyes glowing a brilliant blue. Ash pointed towards Rocket members and their pokemon as they appeared. "Burn them alive Moltres!" The giant fire bird complied sending out flame throwers that instantly incinerated some while leaving others to riving in pain from the burns that would not stop eating away at their flesh. Ash sentenced many to a slow death of watching their body literally flake away into blackened ashes. _

Oldale Pokemon Center – 3AM Apx in the morning.

May woke up with a start. She glanced around momentarily disoriented before she heard a scream coming from the other room. Thinking Ash was in trouble May flew into his room looking for any signs of trouble. The only thing she found was Ash lying in the small double bed tossing and turning. Every now and again he let out a whimper but the screaming had stopped momentarily.

"Oh Ash…" May murmured as she sat down on the bed next to his sleeping form. She gently started to rub his back. This seemed to calm him down slightly. "What could cause such terrible nightmares." She wondered aloud before looking around the room to look for any causes. The only thing she could see was Pikachu in sitting up on the desk staring at his trainer in concern.

Gently she pulled her arms away from Ash but the moment she broke contact he started to shiver uncontrollably before he started to toss and turn. Sweat breaking across his brow. "Ok ok…guess it wouldn't hurt to lie down for a minute." She spoke mostly to herself but she convinced herself that she was speaking to Pikachu.

Oldale Pokemon Center – 8 AM

Ash woke up with yawn. He was amazed how refreshed he felt and how warm he felt. Normally he woke up cold and shaking if he slept more than 4 hours uninterrupted by nightmares it was a miracle. He was about to get up when he felt something wrapped around his middle. He glanced down and saw a pair of feminine arms wrapped around his abdomen.

He slowly glanced over to the table to see Pikachu sitting there smiling at him. "Pika!" It gave Ash a thumbs up.

On one hand he knew exactly who would be there when he turned his head to the side and caught sight of May's face peeking out behind the curtain of her brunette locks. 'Once again if Lance knew half the shit I got myself into.' He thought with a slight groan.

"Ga…" May grumbled as she rolled off of Ash with a hiccup before she woke herself up with a start. She glanced around confused for a moment before a red blush spread across her face. "Ash…?"

Ash stared back at May completely deadpanned before posing the same question to her. "May…?"

May laughed nervously before she slowly detangled herself from the sheets. "Sorry…I came in when I heard you screaming…and well umm…you seemed to quiet down when I held you." She finished quickly…the blush rising to her cheeks again.

At this Ash blushed as well…he thought he had managed to stop the screaming in his sleep. He was slightly embarrassed by the fact that May had been woken up by his nightmares. He was also equally confused by May's admission that he had calmed down after she had lain down next to him.

"Umm…well anyway…we should probably get going if we want to get to Petalburg." Ash muttered as he slowly pulled himself out of the bed.

May nodded blushing red as a tomato when she caught sight of Ash standing in his boxers only. "Well I better get back to my room!" With that May practically disappeared from the room leaving a confused Ash behind.

Route 102 – Afternoon

After the awkward morning wake up the two had quickly packed up and left the room. They just managed to stop by to grab Ash's pokemon on their way out. In awkward silence they had departed Oldale Town and headed down Route 102 towards Petalburg City. They had been walking along at a steady pace but neither one of the two wanted to really bridge the silence or acknowledge what had occurred last night. It was easier to ignore it and continue towards Petalburg City.

The only sound came from the sound of their shoes hitting the packed dirt road and Pikachu twitching now and again. At some point during the walk May had ended up at point with Ash trailing slightly behind. Pikachu ever vigilant on his shoulder looking for danger from both other trainers and wild pokemon. Once again the road seemed to be abandoned with no one else in sight.

Ash sighed…well at least the journey was nice and relaxing. The moment the thought crossed his mind he noticed Pikachu's ears start to twitch wildly. 'Shit…' He groaned someone or something was ahead and whatever it was probably was a threat if Pikachu was picking it up from here. He quickly jogged up to May before tapping her arm nonchalantly. "Hey…get ready to battle...Pikachu is picking something up. The moment I send Pikachu out for an attack I need you to send out two of your strongest to play defense. I will take care of the rest."

May nodded slightly indicating her understanding. Her one hand slipping back to the pokeballs for Venusaur and Glaceon that were attached to her belt. She attempted to look like she was just stretching her arm.

Not a moment later four members of the group May had run into earlier appeared out of the tree line on either side of the path. Their leader grinned before he threw out his pokeball. A Magmar appeared in front of him. "Well well well…just like I thought the bitch is going to Petalburg." He leered at May for a moment before turning to Ash with a dismissive wave.

"You are free to go we only want the girl." He smirked as the other three members of his command threw their pokeballs forth. Two Slugmas appeared in a blast of light from one of the trainers. Another brought forth three more Houndoom, and the final trainer left sent out a Torkoal.

Ash and May studied the pokemon for a moment while Ash was debating who to use other than Pikachu who was itching for a fight. He momentarily debated Pidgeot but if they needed to fly the rest of the way to Petalburg he did not want the bird injured or worse. Lucario was similarly out due to the partial steel type disadvantage. With only three of the opponents being Houndoom he could risk Gardevoir and probably use Arcanine to clean up the mess.

The leader of the Magma expeditionary team sent to investigate the missing Houndoom from the excavation site smiled as he mistook Ash's silence as intimidation. "That is right you are dealing with Team Magma…the real deal and we are not to be trifled with! Now step back and leave the girl to us."

Ash laughed suddenly before he nodded to Pikachu. "So Team Magma…I will remember that name. Unfortunately you all need to die now…I can't have you pursing this poor girl all across Hoenn." With a grin he threw out his two pokeballs as May threw out hers. "Go Arcanine! There are more Houndoom for you to clean up! Gardevoir I want you take keep the Slugma and Torkoal busy. Pikachu! Burn a fucking hole through that Magmar!"

"Venusaur back them up with razor leaf attacks and earthquake when you can. Glaceon just like last time target anything that gets too close!" May yelled as her pokemon appeared from their pokeballs.

Team Magma did not seem to have any concern at first until Ash mentioned more Houndoom to clean up. The leader realized exactly what happened to their pack of Houndoom as Arcanine charged in.

With a vicious thunder fang Arcanine tore into one of the Houndoom before the trainer could respond. The dark dog Pokemon whimpered from the giant gaping hole left in its side. The two other Houndoom responded with crunch attacks that dug into Arcanine's hide. The giant lion dog pokemon growled in pain but other than the blood flowing from its coat it did not flinch away. Ash growled in anger that anyone dared touch Arcanine…despite the bound he had with Pikachu, Arcanine was his first capture as a Growlithe. "Light'um up Arcanine fires spin!"

With a growl the giant lion dog jumped back before releasing a torrent of fire that slowly formed into a tornado of fire around the three Houndoom hemming the three in.

Meanwhile Gardevoir was using her psychic power to divert the flame thrower attacks from the Torkoal in the pair of Slugma. Unfortunately they were not affected by the fire attacks and if anything only seemed to incite the Torkoal. It started to blow steam out of its snout. Of the three she was battling she knew the Torkoal needed to be taken out. Ash also came to the same realization and glanced at Gardevoir for a moment connecting with her telepathically. _"Gardevoir hit them all with confusion…then I want you to use psychic to drop that Torkoal on the Slugma. That should at least bring you down to one opponent." _

"_Of course Ash." _She responded in a calm voice before following through with her trainer's orders. She quickly hit the surface of the minds of the Slugma which luckily were simple creatures and she was able to confuse them easily. In fact it went so well that they started fighting each other. The Torkoal was having none of it though…the bastard may be dumb as a box of rocks but it was stubborn. Gardevoir flinched back as she took a direct hit from a flame thrower.

She glared at the giant turtle before her eyes grew bright blue and she lifted the giant turtle into the air. Before the trainer could respond she let the giant turtle drop…directly onto the pair of battling Slugma who mercifully died on impact.

Ash glanced away figuring it would be handled as he turned his attention to Pikachu. The electric rodent was already hit by a glancing blow from a fire punch. Even with Pikachu's raw power he needed to end it before Pikachu became seriously injured…or worse.

"Alright Pikachu play time is over agility…into volt tackle…right into Magmar's chest. Drill right through that fucker with iron tail." Magmar sensing danger let loose a torrent of flames at the little rodent as his trainer screamed at him to stop the rodent and barbeque the little fucker.

Unfortunately for the Magmar, Pikachu dove under the flames as it ran towards Magmar enveloping itself in a sheen of electricity. Just as Magmar switched over from flame throw and attempted to hit Pikachu with a fire punch, Pikachu hit. The volt tackle blasted the Magmar to the ground and sent Pikachu sky high.

"Magmar flamethrower! Roast it while it's in the air!" Magmar complied by spewing forth a gout of fire at the airborne Pikachu.

"Now Pikachu…Iron Tail! Spin counter clockwise to the flames!" Just as the flames were about to reach Pikachu his tail turned into a javelin and he twisted himself quickly in the air around and around. The counter clockwise motion dispelled the flames and Pikachu's iron tail struck Magmar through the chest with such force that Magmar's flame sac erupted. This blew Pikachu high into the air again.

Ash dove and managed to catch the small rodent. Pikachu looked up at Ash for a moment with weary eyes as he gave his trainer a thumbs up. Most of his coat was blackened now but luckily not much of the flames had reached the skin.

Sighing slightly he turned back to the other two fights. Arcanine was bleeding slightly from a few bite marks but appeared no worse for the wear. May's Venusaur had finished the Houndoom trapped in the fire spin with a powerful earthquake attack if the jagged rocks pushed up into the bodies of the Houndoom was anything to go by.

Gardevoir was having a tougher time of it. The Torkoal had managed a few good hits and she was visibly tired. Just as he was about to inform Arcanine to assist in the fight, May's Glaceon stepped in. The Ice type stepped in with a mighty aqua tail and before the Torkoal could recover May's Glaceon speared it through the neck with an ice beam attack.

Ash grinned at May for a moment before looking at Arcanine…the giant lion dog looked too pleased with itself. It had already killed the owner of the Houndoom…probably because it felt angered that someone would use a lesser dog like fire pokemon than he. "Arcanine!" The Lion Dog cocked it's head to the side a cute puppy look coming across its face…if you could ignore the blood running down his jaws and the fact half the Magma trainer's arm was hanging loosely out of his teeth.

"Go hunting." He grinned as Arcanine chased after the leader who had tried to run the moment the battle did not go his way.

Ash grinned as he heard a pained scream and a snap a few seconds later. _"Gardevoir…you know what to do…no survivors." _He hated making Gardevoir kill if he could…his pokemon was sensitive and never enjoyed killing humans or pokemon. She mainly did so to protect her trainer and his other pokemon. Perhaps since she was a psychic and more mature she had just defaulted to the mother role of the group or perhaps it was just her nature.

Within a moment after the command the two remaining Magma members started to glow blue before their necks snapped of their own accord. Gardevoir may have to kill sometimes but she did not like dragging it out. A quick and painless snap of the neck and the two men would never wake again.

Ash and May quickly set about recalling their pokemon after they were sure that they had no further surprises. "Thanks for the assist." Ash said as he took out Pidegot's pokeball. It looked like he would need the bird pokemon after all. He wanted to get Pikachu to a center right away and Gardevoir was not looking much better.

May just nodded a little pale from all the bloodshed. Living on the frontier side of Hoenn she was a little more used to having to fight to survive but never to this level. She numbly followed Ash's nudging as she got onto Pidgeot and she felt him slide in behind her.

A moment later they were in the air heading towards Petalburg City. Ash surveying the land below as they passed overhead to keep a look out since Pikachu was in no condition to do more than lay in Ash's back pack. "I'm sorry May…if I left them alive they would have come after you again and again. They also identified you…your family would have been in danger as well."

May nodded slightly as she stared dead ahead. Currently she was unsure what to think but in a way she was glad they would be arriving at Petalburg City. She just wanted to crawl into bed and cry. She knew he was right…the way the lead man had leered at her. She shuddered just thinking of what would occur if Ash had not been there. In fact she knew what would have happened and it was none too pretty of a sight.

Ash stayed silent…he figured if anything May would be done now. After two life or death events in two days he would not blame her if she wanted to just go home and never leave again. Sometimes he really wished he had that luxury but ever since Rocket had wiped Pallet Town off the map in the final days before Red had really rallied Indigo to wiping out Rocket he did not have a town to go home to. Hell he did not even have a mom to go home to really. It was just dumb luck that he had decided to go with Red that day to help him convince the Elite Four.

Shaking his head away he tried to concentrate again as he heard May speaking again. "Sorry…I drifted off for a moment. What did you say?"

May smirked slightly…despite only knowing this boy for less than two days she got the distinct impression that his mind would drift to other places on a regular basis. "I said I am still coming with you!" Her resolve hardened as she glanced back…just daring the young man to try to talk her out of it.

He laughed at the girls look. "You are a stubborn one aren't you?" He shot her a wide smile.

Right before they could continue their conversation Pidgeot screeched out a general warning. Ash knew it meant that the destination was within Pidgeot's sight. "Alright Pidgeot! Take us right over to the pokemon center. I need to get Pikachu, Arcanine and Gardevoir looked over right away."

Pidgeot squawked in acknowledgement before slowly circling in towards the Pokemon Center. Other trainers cleared out of the way as the giant bird set down right by the front entrance. The bird's giant wings sending off mini dust devils.

A moment later Ash and May had hopped off Pidgeot and had rushed into the center. A tired Pikachu an Ash's two other pokeballs were taken away for restoration.

"So…once your pokemon are back how about we head over to the Petalburg gym! I bet my mom will cook dinner tonight and I think I can even convince her to let you stay in the guest room rather than at the pokemon center." May finished with a smile as she rocked back and forth on her heels hoping that he would say yes. How else would she convince her father she would be safe with Ash if he did not meet him.

Ash nodded slightly taking note that she only mentioned her mother in any kind of welcoming way. He felt May left it unspoken that her father would be less than pleased about the surprise guest. "Umm well a home cooked meal sounds good and a bed not at a pokemon center also sounds great."

"Then it's settled! We will head to the gym right after Pikachu and the others are returned." May jumped up and down in victory before she started watching the doors that went back into the Center's main care area. She did not want to be held up one second if she could help it.

Ash just stood by and smiled at the girl's impatience over the wait. He was used to the waits and found he was no longer bothered by them anymore. Or at least that is what he told himself as he found his own foot tapping. 'My first gym battle and a warm homemade meal…nothing could make it better.' He thought for a moment before glancing at the cute brunette who was rocking on her heels impatiently. 'Well perhaps one thing…' His thoughts drifted off.

Alright hope you liked the chapter. Next chapter we introduce the Maple family. Norman may be less than pleased with Ash, Caroline will love him and I haven't decided where Max will fall mostly because I don't know if he will be added to the traveling party. Drew will also make an appearance I am flip-flopping between making him just a pretentious ass hole or a borderline abusive asshole. So many options but so long for now. I will continue trying to post every week but it will probably be closer to every other it just depends on my schedule and inspiration.


	4. The Petalburg Shuffle

A/N: Gengar is winning so far just to let those interested know. I believe I will probably be in need of the 6th pokemon in the next chapter or two. Once that is completed I will put up Ash's legendary pokemon poll. I doubt that one will be seen for at least another 4-5 chapters and it won't do much when it appears.

Brock is joining the next chapter for sure. Max may join for a while but I just don't know if I can effectively sustain him for a long period of time. I like him but I don't think I can write him well. Then again the only way I have been able to write the characters is taking artistic license and blaming differences on their new situations. Anyway enough rambling onto the chapter there is more rambling at the end.

Chapter 4 – The Petalburg Shuffle

Petalburg Pokemon Center –

Ash walked up to the front desk that was as always was attended by a Nurse Joy. Ash shot the woman a smile before he placed his pokeballs down and dumping Pikachu down next to them in front of the nurse. "Good evening Miss." He grinned a little when Nurse Joy blushed a little from the title. "If you could heal these pokemon as quickly as possible…"

Nurse Joy nodded quickly before scooping up the Pokeballs. Pikachu meanwhile jumped onto Nurse Joy's shoulder while shooting his trainer a thumbs up. "They will be done in half an hour Sir!" She quickly rushed off to the back and through the doors a light blush still on her cheeks.

Ash glanced over at May who was looking at him with a slight glare…'Er maybe not the best idea…' He laughed nervously before scratching the back of his head. "I find a little compliment here or there gets the pokemon healed a little faster than just being another face in the sea of trainers that passes by." He offered as an explanation hoping that she would not kill him…or worse deny him a homemade meal.

"Right…well I hope that is all it amounts to." May gave Ash a final warning glare. The last thing she wanted was to end up traveling with a complete man whore who flirted with every female he met along the way.

Brock sneezed suddenly…he wondered where it came from. Glancing up he realized that he would be arriving in Petalburg City shortly.

Ash nodded quickly in an attempt to appease the angry brunette…again the last thing he needed was to lose a chance at a home cooked meal when he was so close. 'Speaking of home…I should probably check in with Gary.' He glanced at the clock and saw that he still had at least twenty five minutes until his pokemon would be ready.

May debated internally for a moment if she should forgive the trainer. 'Well he did save my life…and this is the first time that he really has shown any signs of being a jerk. As long as Ash doesn't turn out to be like Drew is with women.' She shuddered slightly at thought, momentarily lost in her own world she never really responded to Ash's nod.

"Hey May." Ash grabbed May's attention. "I need to make a call home. I am going to go grab a video phone real quick. I will be back by the time my pokemon are healed." Getting a confirmation from May in the form of an absent minded nod he strolled over to the video phone banks and picked one in the corner.

He pulled his pokedex out of his pocket and looked up Gary's contact number for the lab. 'One would think after so many years I would have gotten it memorized.' He carefully punched in the numbers and awaited for the dial tone to go through. Luckily Gary being younger than his grandfather tended to be a little more in tune with current technology.

When Gary answered the phone his head was facing away from Ash.

"Good Evening Professor's Oak's lab, how may I be of assistance?" Gary queried towards a completely blank video phone monitor.

'Or maybe not so up with the technology…' Ash placed his head into his hand and sighed slightly. 'I guess the apple really does not fall far from the tree.' Waiting another moment Ash decided to direct Gary to the correct video phone screen. "Uh hey Gary over here...behind you."

Gary swung around quickly in his chair and gave Ash a once over before a giant grin broke across his face. "Well well well if it isn't the loser! I hear you are in Hoenn region and that you retired cause ya couldn't handle the pressure. I always knew you would give up eventually" Gary spoke in a joking matter not that Ash could ever tell...he wasn't huge on the whole subtlety aspect and Gary happened to know just how to push those buttons for fun now and again.

Ash's eyebrow twitched slightly from Gary's statement. If there was one person that could break the cool and collected façade he normally would wear while in public and battling it was Gary. "Who are you calling a loser pal! If I remember correctly I was the one that destroyed you in the Kanto League! You want a piece come and get it!" Ash had by this point jumped up for his chair and has his fist pointed at the video screen all the while his face had contorted into a mask of pure rage and slowly growing red.

"You get a boat and get right over here if you want a rematch! My team will bury you so fast your head will be spinning for a week. Come get a taste of a fully trained Ranger!" Ash was still shaking his fist and all the while Gary was putting his hands up in a placating manner in an attempt to calm Ash down.

"Calm down Ash… I was joking with you, you damn raving lunatic." Gary just shook his head. Ash really could not take any type of ribbing without going completely and utterly overboard when it came to him. It was like he was hard wired to respond to even the simplest jokes as if they were a threat on his life.

Right before Ash could calm down and get on with the actual conversation May interrupted.

"You are a Ranger!? So that is why you were so good! It is no wonder you managed to dispatch those thugs without taking much damage. Why didn't you tell me?!" May burst onto the video screen on Gary's end as she began to violently shake Ash in an excited manner over the new information. 'Wow a real honest to goodness Ranger! There is no way Dad can stop me now!' May thought in excitement over this new development.

"Nice Ash…real low profile please tell me this girl is at least trust worthy." Gary sighed on the over end as he rested his face in his hand.

"Umm…May how did you hear me?" Ash cocked his head to the side trying to figure out how she would have overheard him. He never realized how when he became angry his normal calm and collected voice turned into an outdoor voice in no time flat.

Luckily May was saved from having to answer by Gary who spoke up from the other line. A vein above Gary's eye twitched a little as he slowly ground out the answer to Ash as if he were explaining to a child for the 50th time why he could not stay up until midnight. "Well Ash you were not exactly quietly shouting out that you were a Ranger across the whole damn lounge area."

Ash brightened slightly at the statement before glancing around quickly to see if anyone else had potentially heard his statement. Luckily after a quick glance he saw that the lobby was empty and no one else was near the video phone banks. He chuckled a little as he turned towards May attempting to figure out how to explain this away. "Umm…well …you see…" Ash was floundering for an explanation but he really did not have one as he had never really planned on telling May. He figured if it ever came up…well he would figure it out at the time. Unfortunately that was failing him currently and miserably.

Gary sighed in annoyance over the whole scene unfolding in front of him. 'Once again…who the fuck had the most excellent idea to send Ash in on a covert spy mission…not that I really helped the situation by winding him up. I guess it is up to me to pull his ass out of the fire.' He gave Ash a moment longer to see if he could come up with anything.

Finally Gary stepped in to the relief of Ash. "Well beautiful young lady, may I call you May? I am Gary Oak, professor, researcher, and in my spare time…underwear model." Gary flashed a smile towards the pretty brunette and received a blush in return over the introduction. "Ash here used to be a pretty important Ranger…one of the elite and he decided to take an early retirement from the League after a particularly nasty battle. He decided to start over as good ol' Ash Ketchum. Just a talented trainer and nothing more if you catch my drift?" Gary glanced at Ash quickly to make sure Ash was paying attention and gave him a 'You owe me so big.' Before turning his attention back to May.

"Now how did such a charming young lady such as yourself come to start traveling with my resident friend and dunderhead?" Gary smirked as he watched Ash's eyebrow start to twitch over the statement. 'So god damn easy this should be illegal.' He thought with a grin before turning his attention back to May.

May blushed at the attention she was receiving from the handsome young professor. She quickly went over the first and subsequent attacks from the oddly dressed men and how Ash had stepped in both times to protect her from harm.

Gary listened intently to the story all the while nodding or humming in the correct parts of the story. All the while Ash just sat there awkwardly blushing over the retelling of the story. When she finally ended the story Ash managed to mumble out. "No big deal anyone would have done it."

May gently swatted his arm as Gary grinned over the interaction between the two. 'Well maybe Ash is finally getting over Leaf…or at least moving on.' Gary contemplated momentarily before deciding perhaps he should help move this along in a less platonic direction. 'Ash may be dense…but the girl certainly isn't.'

"So Ash…I was just thinking it is a good thing you don't have a girl or else I believe one would be jealous over the fact you have saved the beautiful Miss. May not once but twice. Yes it certainly is in your favor that is for sure." Gary nodded to himself after his little on the fly speech that he knew Ash would not catch the meaning of. 'Christ almighty the boy can flirt with girls so easily but the moment it gets serious he has no idea what to do.' Gary simply shook his head. There was a reason he only was ever seriously involved with Leaf. She was the only one that could plainly state exactly what she wanted and expected of the poor boy. From his brief interaction with May, Gary could tell that she was not a girl to beat around the bush about certain things.

"What do you mean Gary…you know I am not involved with anyone why even bring it up?" Ash queried with a slight tilt of his head.

Gary laughed slightly. "Nothing Ash…never mind. Anyway why did you call anyway…we never really did get to that with all the excitement you caused earlier." He ventured hoping to draw the conversation back to the whole entire reason that Ash had called him in the first place.

Ash grumbled under his breath. "God damn Gary…" He looked up noticing that he had the attention of both Gary who once again had his head resting in his hand and May staring at him as well shaking her head slightly.

"Volume control Ash…learn it." Gary sighed as he looked back at the screen and giving May a sly wink.

May giggled over the whole thing. 'These two are just too funny.' Now she knew that she made the right choice, she had been slightly worried by her new travel partner's cool personality and what appeared to be smooth talking attitude towards women but now she was not really that worried. 'Gary certainly knows how to bring Ash's more fiery personality out that is for sure.' She pondered for a moment before turning her attention back between the two. She ended up hovering over Ash's shoulder so her face remained in the screen and she could see Gary a little easier.

"Yeah yeah…yeah…look I am just checking on my Pokemon how are they doing in Pallet?" Ash queried hoping that Gary did not run into any trouble and had actually seen the need to use their services to defend Pallet. Ash had done his best to keep his anger from seeping into his voice. He was still kind of peeved from the start of the conversation.

Gary shrugged slightly while putting his hands behind his head. "Well they seem to be fine…I don't know if they understand the quiet life of Pallet town. They are so jumpy but they are getting better. If nothing else the townspeople feel pretty safe not that they didn't before with Gramps and me around. Still nothing like knowing an Elite Ranger's pokemon on guard."

'Shit…opps.' Gary groaned he did not mean to say that. 'Perhaps she did not hear that.' Glancing at May's surprised face he saw that she definitely heard that. 'Oh well something new for Ashy boy to deal with I guess.' Gary was glad this issue was not his problem that was for sure…well other than Ash's anger.

"Gary…you talk too much." Ash grounded out. 'Really and he berates me for my outbursts. At least mine are when I am angry…this jack ass just doesn't pay attention either that or he enjoys seeing me in awkward situations.' Ash was about to reach for the button to terminate the call before Gary said anything else before Gary shot up from his chair quickly.

"Sorry sorry…well anyway Brock should be arriving in about a day. He gave me a call right before he left on the ship from Kanto." In response Gary received a blank stare. 'You have got to be kidding me.'

"Ash you did remember that Brock was meeting up with you right?" Gary asked hoping that Ash did not confirm his thoughts.

"Well…of course I remembered! Our whole plan was to meet here! I wouldn't forget it." Ash laughed nervously while scratching the back of his head.

Gary just sighed in frustration…really Ash could be so forgetful sometime. If he had not reminded Ash he knew that Brock would arrive in Petalburg City and Ash would be two cites over. "Anyway I am signing off just remember not to leave Brock in Petalburg."

Ash nodded before he ended the call on his end. He glanced up at the clock and saw that it had been well over the half hour quote. "Crap…well that conversation took a lot longer than I thought." He glanced around quickly to make sure they were the only ones in the lobby area. Luckily there still seemed to be no one in the lobby area.

The black haired trainer turned to May with a nervous smile. "Hey May if you could ummm not mention any of the Ranger stuff that would be great. I kinda just want to be a normal trainer and not have to worry about any of that stuff. I also find it intimidates people when I don't mean to."

May pondered for a moment mulling over Ash's request. It would be harder to convince her father but if Ash was here to collect gym badges anyway he would be able to show his power through his Pokemon not through his title. After a moment longer she nodded to Ash. "No problem Ash! You secret is safe with me…and since you are my traveling partner I feel even better about this arrangement!"

Ash and May left the videophone area and grabbed Ash's pokemon from the front desk before thanking Nurse Joy for her quick turnaround time in service. Pikachu jumped on to Ash's shoulder before the small group departed the pokemon center.

Ash followed May's lead as she wove in and out of the main roads and side streets. They were getting further and further away from the Pokemon center. Taking a quick look around Ash could not find any buildings in the direction they were traveling that appeared to stand out as a gym. Shrugging he kept on following May his stomach gurgling. "Hey May how much longer until your house?"

May glanced back at Ash when she heard the gurgling which just ended up reminding her stomach how hungry it was and an answering gurgle came from her stomach.

Ash and May looked at each and laughed. "Well I guess our stomachs are trying to tell us that it is time for dinner! Luckily we are almost there." May grinned at Ash as they both continued onwards towards the Maple home.

Just as May was nearing her home with Ash in tow she saw a sight ahead that made her want to simultaneously gag and run away. Unfortunately the young man with green hair stood directly in their path to the gym and there really wasn't a good way around him.

The green haired man awaited for May at the street corner and directly behind him was the gym. Norman had requested he take a look for May since the girl should have returned earlier today. The brunette's father had gotten worried and since he was the gym leader it was hard to leave Petalburg City. Max had been deemed too young if May had been in trouble. 'Which of course left me…the upcoming Hoenn Ranger every father's dream for their little girl to marry. A stable job and a strong enough man to keep his little girl safe how could Norman not say no to my request to travel with May and keep her safe.'

He flicked his hair letting his carefully maintained locks spin in the hair before falling over one eye. 'It gets the girls every time.' Drew's smile turned to a slight frown as he realized the dark haired man was with his May. At first he thought they were simply traveling in the same direction but instead she seemed to be talking to him. He just caught the tail end of their conversation making him frown even more.

"Don't worry Ash it is just Drew shouldn't take more than a minute." May spoke to Ash before directing her attention to Drew who she noticed was looking less than pleased. 'Gee Drew try to make yourself more appealing why don't you.' She thought sarcastically. Drew always rubbed her the wrong way and ever since he started to train to become a Hoenn Ranger he attempted to convince her father that he should let her travel like she wanted. 'Of course the catch was that he would be my traveling partner…as if I would accept that deal!'

Ash mumbled a response that Drew did not catch but he knew immediately he did not like this guy and the fact that May seemed so close to him. "Well May, glad to see you are alright. Your father just sent me out to come and find you." He glanced at Ash before he proceeded. "Though it appears you made it home alright…with an unexpected guest. I am sure your father will be so pleased that you picked up a vagabond for dinner."

Ash's eyebrow twitched a little as he squashed down the urge to strangle the little prick. Not even two sentences in and he wanted to take this kid and strangle him. 'Perhaps May would not mind too much.' Glancing over at May, she seemed to be in the same boat as he was with the annoying green haired kid. "I'm a pokemon trainer not a vagabond and May invited me over for dinner." Pikachu pointed to itself on Ash's shoulder while chattering in an angry tone as if to say 'Did you miss the yellow electric mouse on his shoulder dumb ass.' This caused Ash to smirk slightly at Pikachu's less than pleasant tone before turning his attention to Drew.

Drew sneered at the black haired trainer. "Watch your tone I am now a certified Hoenn league Ranger. I am no gym leader that will go easy on you just because you are looking for a badge kid." Drew crossed his arms over his chest giving Ash a glare as if daring him to decide to contradict him.

May sensing that Ash was about to explode decided to intervene before Norman came out to a destroyed front lawn and most of the street in front of the house. "Drew thanks for volunteering to look for me but as you can see I am perfectly fine. If you could restrain yourself from insulting my guest any further I am taking him to our house for dinner." May grinned her eyes almost turning red in barely contained rage before her voice dropped to a whisper. "And Drew I don't care how strong you are…you know what happened last time that you got between dinner and I."

The brunette was pleased to see a shudder run across the green haired man's frame. Apparently he did remember quite well the way he reacted. "Well Drew it is time for dinner so I will see you around."

Ash and May were about to take off when Drew's response stopped May dead in her tracks.

"Excellent I shall accompany you. Your father insisted that I come over for dinner once I came back with you." Drew shot the two a grin he knew May especially was less than pleased with his response but such was life. How else would the girl get used to their future together if they only spent time while traveling around the town now and again. 'More often than not when I run into her but oh well they say opposites attract.' He thought while turning around and leading the other two towards the house of the Maple's.

Ash simply raised an eyebrow at the whole conversation. 'This guy is a real ass hat…with an attitude like that he would have been eaten alive at the Ranger academy in Kanto. Perhaps Hoenn just doesn't make'um like they used to.' Ash mused silently as he followed a haughty drew and a fuming May into the house.

"May! You are back!" Caroline appeared by the door and hugged her wayward daughter. "We just sent Drew out to come find you. How was the trip?" Caroline smiled before turning her attention to Ash. "And who is this that you have with you? Another guest?"

May smiled her mother was always so welcoming to everyone. "Yes mother the trip was umm…more exciting than expected! This is Ash he was actually sent with the package from Professor Birch and ran into me in between Littleroot and Oldale. He decided to travel back here with me." She decided to leave out life and death attacks until after dinner and convincing her father that Ash could handle any danger that may appear.

Caroline smiled at Ash before greeting the young man with a hug which left the black haired man with a look of surprise that he shot to May. "It is so nice to meet a friend of May's! Thank you for looking out for her and what a cute looking Pikachu you have there."

"Pikaaaa!" Pikachu looked quite pleased with itself as he chittered upon Ash's shoulder.

The group was led into the dining room that was loaded down with what appeared to be a feast. A tall man with blue hair was already sitting at the table. He shot a smile when he saw that his daughter arrived looking none worse for the wear. His face fell into a slight frown when he saw Drew. Despite the kid being all powerful and always being there to help the family he was not exactly over the moon about the new Hoenn Ranger. The next person that walked through the door surprised Norman.

The young man looked so familiar…something about the Pikachu riding on the younger man's shoulder trigged a memory of a conversation with Whitney from the Johto league. Since both were normal type gym leaders they spoke on a semi normal basis. He shook his head slightly as he could not place what it was about. 'Can't be that important.' "Welcome to the Petalburg Gym and my home young man. I assume there is a story behind your presence in my house?" He said in as kind a matter as possible. He did not want to give the young man the impression he wasn't welcome here. Glancing at May he received a nod to his question.

"Well all in good time and it looks like Max has just arrived. I would go through the full introductions but you both look half starved so everyone dig in!" Norman spoke with a smile not realizing how much he would regret those words.

Twenty minutes later most of the Maple family had concluded their meal along with Drew. Ash and May on the other hand seemed to be having some kind of sick contest over who could eat the most food. Norman stared in undisclosed disbelief at the scene. 'Well I knew May could pack it down…but I never thought she would find someone that could hold their own against her.'

Caroline just smiled at the two as she continually exchanged empty plates for full plates. 'So nice that May has finally found a young man that is so compatible with her.'

Drew on the other hand had a look of disgust on his face. 'Are these two monsters? No human should be able to bear that much food…'

Finally Max just looked on with interest. He made sure not to get too close to their hands. 'Hmm I wonder if either of these two have some type of Snorlax DNA in their genes…that may explain some things. Especially the rage May seemed to have when awoken early from slumber.' Max nodded to himself and decided to continue observe the two for further evidence. 'Perhaps I can write a research paper and submit it to Professor Birch.'

Finally after another ten minutes Ash and May's food intake fell to a trickle. Only grabbing a roll or other smaller item now and again allowing conversation to finally be heard over the clatter of dishes.

Norman laughed a little at the whole scene as he addressed the young man. "Well then now that you two are done with your meal how did you come to meet my daughter?" He was interested as to how his daughter had run into the young man.

"Uh my name's Ash Ketchum." Ash realized that Norman had been talking to him and he came up for a breath of air between grabbing another piece of toast and moving on to grabbing another rice ball. "I was asked by Professor Birch to deliver a package to you. Luckily he informed me that May was already on her way so I just met up with her on the way and decided to escort her back here."

Norman nodded slightly it seemed like a reasonable explanation. "Well thank you for escorting her the rest of the way here young man. As much as she enjoys traveling I do worry about her with the rumors going on in the eastern part of Hoenn. Prior to that it was the worry of Team Rocket coming across from Kanto region." He smiled to his daughter knowing she did not exactly agree with his over protective zeal but outside Petalburg City he really had no power to protect her.

"Rumors?" Ash queried to the older gentleman his interest in the food forgotten.

Norman nodded a little hesitant to voice the rumors in front of both his younger son who was traveling and his daughter. In the end he decided the information could only assist. "Yes…girls traveling alone are going missing they are coming back…scarred from the experience if they return at all. Trainers are also going missing and their bodies eventually turn up but their pokemon are always gone."

The older man was about to speak his thoughts when he was interrupted rudely by Drew clearing his throat and giving Norman a slight glare. "As a member of the Hoenn Rangers I can assure you that those are only unsubstantial rumors. IF there was an issue of disappearances. I can assure you the league would be looking into it and I personally would be investigating the matter."

Norman had to keep himself from rolling his eyes…though it didn't stop Max from. Norman sent a glance at his son clearly telling his son to knock it off. Even if Drew was fairly full of himself he was a powerful Ranger that should be respected. "Anyway substantial or not it is enough for me to worry about May."

May finally coughed a little and cleared her throat. "Umm speaking of that Dad…umm I think I am ready to start traveling."

Drew finally flashed a smile. "Well that sounds fine with me! I will get my status changed with the league. I am sure it will take less than a week so that I can be classified as a wandering Ranger."

May glared at Drew before returning her attention to her father. "Actually Dad I want to travel with Ash. He is a really powerful trainer and I know he will be able to handle anything thrown at us."

After looking at her father's look to go on she quickly explained the two attacks on her life while leaving out the fact that they slept in the same bed in Oldale. By the time she had finished her mother was crying and thanking the poor boy with a bone shattering hug. Norman was looking impressed and Drew…well Drew was about ready to explode.

"That is all well and good May but what if you two run into some serious danger. This man may be able to handle some back woods thugs from Oldale but I can provide you with some serious protection." The green haired braggart nodded to himself as if confirming his theory. "No I just can't allow you to travel with such weak protection."

Ash at this point was twitching slightly in his chair as Caroline unwrapped her arms from around the young man. May's mother looked none too pleased by Drew's assessment of Ash even if she had never seen him battle.

Norman taking the two young men in got an idea. If the boy was a trainer he needed a badge anyway and if Ash could hold his own against a Ranger then he could certainly earn the balance badge and protect May. "Well I believe we can settle this with a pokemon battle. Ash as a Trainer I am sure you are looking for a badge. So here are the rules it will be a double battle with the use of four pokemon. Ash if you can hold your own against Drew not only will you earn the Balance badge but you can escort May through Hoenn if you so desire. Drew if you win by a landslide victory and May is still willing than I will allow you to escort her on her journey through Hoenn."

Both young men were glaring at each other at this point. There was a nod between the two before the family and two young men left the kitchen to head to the gym.

-Petalburg Gym

Norman of course would stand in as the referee for the match between the two while the rest of the Maple family sat in the stands in the middle with May quite obviously sitting closer to Ash's side.

"Trainers ready!" Norman called. When he noticed that both young men did not really provide a further acknowledgement than a grunt he brought his hand down. "Trainers start! Send out your pokemon!"

Drew smirked condescendingly at Ash and the Pikachu resting on his shoulder. "I will go first…you are going to need all the help you can get!" With that Drew tossed two pokeballs into the middle of the field. "Roserade! Masquerain! Wipe this challenger off the floor." Roserade appeared in a flourish of petals and Masquerain appeared while flapping it's wings in an intimidating manner.

Ash grinned slightly…'Giving me the advantage was the wrong move but hey if you are stupid enough to let me plan ahead why not take it?' With that he withdrew two pokeballs and threw them into the field. "Arcanine! Pidgeot! Show them defeat!" Arcanine appeared with a roar that reverberated through the walls and Pidgeot appeared with a screech.

Even Drew was briefly rethinking providing his challenger the type advantage of allowing him to know his first two pokemon. Unfortunately for Drew's pokemon both of Ash's pokemon had super effective attacks against his own but that did not mean he did not have some tricks up his sleeve.

"Roserade! Start this off with stun spore! Masquerain Hydro pump and hit that Arcanine to take it out!" He grinned as Roserade started to shake it's arms sending spores into the air towards Ash's pokemon. All the while Masquerain drew back before opening its mouth and blew out a steady stream of water towards Arcanine.

"Arcanine counter hydro pump with Fire blast! Pidgeot blow those spores back the way they came with gust!" His pokemon quickly complied with his order. Pidgeot's gust blew the spores back towards the bug and grass type pokemon as the giant bird took to the air. Arcanine's fire blast met the hydro pump in the middle cancelling one another out in a blast of steam.

"Masquerain quickly aqua jet!" The giant bug became enveloped in a body of water as it used that water to slam into Arcanine's side. The giant lion dog yelped in pain from the super effective attack at that hit him. The giant dog landed on his feet despite the strong attack and did not look any worse for the wear.

"Now Roserade! Hit that Pidgeot with magical leaf!" Drew yelled at his main pokemon.

Ash groaned from the hit Arcanine took. He needed to end that Roserade before his Arcanine was taken down. "Arcanine extremespeed into aerial ace! Take Roserade down in one hit! Pidgeot keep that Masquerain busy! Air slash!" Without further prodding the giant lion dog disappeared from the battlefield before suddenly appearing in front of Roserade and slammed the flower pokemon into the air. Prior to the Roserade being able to recover, Arcanine disappeared again before reappearing in mid air and hitting the airborne grass type to the ground with a devastating slash.

Ash was about to grin when he heard Drew order Masquerain to hit Arcanine with another hydro pump full power. He watched helplessly as Arcanine took a full hit from hydro pump and promptly fainted next to the now down and out Roserade.

Drew had sacrificed Masquerain in order to take down Arcanine as a moment later Pidgeot's super effective air slash brought the bug pokemon to the ground with swirls. Drew growled out as he returned his two pokemon to his one. Even worse the Pidgeot did not even appear to be touched.

"Flygon! Absol! Finish him now!" The large ground dragon pokemon that looked more like a dragon fly appeared next to the doomsday pokemon that stood next to the dragon.

Ash grinned slightly as he held up Pidgeot's pokeball. "Good work Pidgeot return for now!" He recalled the giant bird before throwing out his fresh duo to meet Drew's. "Go! Lucario! Gardevoir!"

The two appeared in a flash of light both sizing up their opponents as Lucario subcounciously moved to engage the dark type due to Gardevoir's weakness and Gardevoir engaging the dragon type.

Drew growled slightly under his breath. 'Just how many of these fully evolved pokemon does this kid have? I was expecting to have some trouble but this is ridiculous.' He thought a moment before a smile came to his lips "Absol! Use psycho cut on Lucario! Flygon use faint attack on Gardevoir!" He yelled out to his pokemon.

Ash grunted slightly as he ordered his own pokemon. "Lucario! Counter! Gardevoir take the hit and use confusion on Flygon!"

Flygon swooped in and disappeared before Gardevoir could do anything the giant dragon fly dragon type appeared to Gardevoir's right and hit the psychic type with a super effective dark strike. Gardevoir for her credit winced in pain before her eyes glowed blue and a psychic energy rushed out and hit Flygon.

Drew grinned as he watched Gardevoir take a hit full on but grunted In annoyance when he saw Flygon get his with confusion.

He turned his attention to the other battle and watched in delight as the fighting type got nailed by Absol's psychic horn only to watch as Lucario grabbed the horn right as the attack finished and pummeled his Absol into the ground.

The four pokemon jumped back to their respective sides. All four were panting out of the four Flygon seemed to be in the best shape but that was about to change.

"Absol! Hit Lucario again with psycho cut!" Drew knew one last hit and Lucario would probably be down for the fight…it wasn't like his pokemon were any type of push overs then again Ash's pokemon also seemed to be highly trained. "It's all over Ash! I respect your power but I wasn't given the position of Ranger for nothing!"

Ash simply smiled as Absol came running in when the dark type was almost on top of Lucario he yelled out to his jackal pokemon. "No Lucario intercept with close combat!" Lucario swept in past Absol's guard and swung his fists in close hitting the doomsday pokemon in quick succession before Absol's glowing horn could his Lucario.

Norman watched Absol a moment as the dark type attempted to get up before falling back to the ground with a grunt. 'Well shit I never expected Ash to be able to defeat any of Drew's pokemon let alone be able to take out three of Drew's pokemon while only losing one.' Norman thought before calling the pokemon out. "Absol is unable to battle.

Drew nearly screamed in frustration…how could this second rate trainer manage to put him in such a position. "Flygon hyperbeam! Now on Lucario!"

Flygon moved to comply and turned its head towards Lucario before a ball of energy formed in its mouth. In its state of confusion though it switched targets from Lucario to the Maple family sitting in the stands watching the match.

Norman only had a moment to realize he had forgot to bring in Ralts to handle wayward attacks. All gyms depending on their size employed at least one psychic type pokemon to guard the stands and reflect any attacks that missed the field from hitting any observers. In his hurry he had forgotten and now he watched as a destructive wave of a hyper beam started to head towards his family who at the moment were frozen in fear.

Ash saw everything going pear shaped the moment Flygons confusion caused it to mistake the Maple family for Lucario! "Pikachu!" He pointed towards the family as he watched Flygon release a blinding bolt of energy. "Intercept it!"

With not a moment to spare Pikachu disappeared and reappeared right in front of the Maple family. "Thunder bolt! Punch it!"

"Pika! CHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!" The little electric rodent let loose a blinding thunderbolt that bathed the gym in light as the electric charge met the hyperbeam right before it reached the Maple family. At first the two powerful moves met in the middle and held as both pokemon continued to pour power into them. Flygon in its confusion did not listen to Drew pleading for it to stop.

After a moment though Pikachu pushed the hyperbeam back and eventually the thunderbolt tore through the hyperbeam and made it all the way back to Flygon. The only thing that saved the dragon type from being completely fired was that it was immune to electric attacks even ones as powerful as Pikachu's thunderbolt.

Norman let out a sigh of relief as he was finally able to see again. His family was alright thanks to the boy's Pikachu. Looking back to the young man he saw something there he had not seen before. The young man's eyes almost looked to burn with a rage that could not be quenched. All of a sudden he remembered. 'An unassuming young man that always had a Pikachu on his shoulder. A team of highly trained pokemon that could shrug off hits that should have killed a lesser pokemon in one hit…this is who Whitney spoke of when we met.'

Norman barely heard Ash call out for his Lucario to finish off the Flygon with dragon pulse and for Gardevoir to follow it up with energy ball. In fact he just stood there trying to get around the implications of having the Burning Nightmare of Cinnabar in his gym.

The gym leader managed to shake himself out of his stupor before declaring. "Ash Ketchum is the winner of this fight! Thank you for saving my family Ash."

He studied the younger man as he walked up to him and presented the Balance badge. Instead of the deep pools of rage instead he now saw an abashed and embarrassed young man.

The dark haired trainer scratched the back of his head as he accepted the Balance badge from Norman. "No worries we were just lucky that Pikachu is fast enough to intercept almost any attack. Speaking of…" Ash looked around for Pikachu before spotting the tired out little mouse currently being squeezed to death in May's arms.

A/N :

Well next chapter we will wrap up the Petalburg City arc…I think. Norman and Ash are going to have a talk about certain things from Ash's past. Brock will join the group. Max may or may not join I don't know let me know what you think. If I get enough of a response I will put him in with the group for at least a while but I can't promise he won't split off to continue his journey solo at some point. I had debated making Norman kinda a dick about things as well but I realized that Drew totally covered the jackass role. Other than that Jessie and James will make an appearance somewhere near the end of the chapter or early next chapter. Drew will be gone for a while and other than that I will try to fit in a pokemon battle or two to keep the people that like battling appeased. Anyway let me know what you think or just favorite and follow either way I don't mind. Only thing I ask is that you vote on the polls up on my page.


	5. The Petalburg Pressure

A/N: Well onto Chapter 5. I believe I will keep Max on for Petelburg Forest and into Rustboro City. If he works out great and he will continue on with the group. If I really don't enjoy writing him and can't find a use with him he will split from the group there and may make some minor appearances later. I had to go back and rewrite certain parts of this chapter a few time as they just were not coming out like I wanted them to.

Just an FYI Gengar is leading in the polls by a vote for the 6th pokemon with Dusknoir right behind him. I will be closing the poll after I start to write the next chapter since I will need the pokemon then.

Chapter 5 – Petalburg Pressure

Petalburg Gym –

Ash looked up just in time to see Flygon returning in a beam of red light. He stood there with Norman studying him while Drew walked up to the dark haired trainer.

"Well I suppose you have earned the right to escort May…but this isn't over. If I hear you get her into any sort of trouble, I will personally be out to take over your duties, and I know you will so don't bother denying it." The green haired trainer informed Ash snidely.

Ash just raised an eyebrow. "I wipe the floor with you, save people from your pokemon's rogue hyper beam when you get desperate and yet I am the one that screws up."

Drew flicked his hair before addressing Ash in his normal haughty manner. "Once again placing the blame on others…if you had not used confusion on Flygon his hyper beam wouldn't have gone rogue. So once more Ash let me spell it out you will fuck up. When you do I will be there to catch May." He flashed a grin towards the Ash with the statement.

Noticing that Ash was about to blow Norman decided to step in before it got bad. "Well Drew be that as it may, I feel May will be perfectly fine in Ash's care. Won't she Ash?" Norman flashed the younger man a smile in an attempt to calm him down.

His eye was twitching ever so slightly as he gripped his hands into fists. The only thing stopping Ash from hammering the little twerp in the mouth was Norman. The gym leader who had just presented him with the balance badge would probably be less than impressed with him smashing Drew's face in right after he spoke on Ash's behalf. Ash managed to control himself enough to shoot a cocky smirk towards Drew.

Grunting at Norman's support of his rival, Drew flicked his hair again before turning away. 'Damn arrogant asshole comes in here and takes my May away.' His thoughts darkened briefly before he covered up his annoyance with his normal arrogant attitude. "Well May good luck with Mr. Ketchum. I know you will need it with those little contests you enjoy so much but I am sure you will place in the contests." The green haired trainer waved to May who was still recovering from the near death experience in the stands. "Call me when you need help and you will. I will be at your side in a moment's notice."

Flashing a smile towards May once more he gave Norman a nod before proceeding out of the gym not bothering to acknowledge Ash any further or look back to see May's look of disbelief.

Ash's glare continued to linger on the gym's entrance before all of a sudden a brunette impact hit him from the side wrapping around his middle. "Thank you Ash! I told you, you were the best traveling partner for me!" May screamed in excitement as she bodily tackled him. This caused Ash to grunt as he lost his balance and tipped over onto the floor. "Ahh!" He managed to eke out as his hands clawed at the air.

Ash groaned slightly from the impact as he found himself staring into May's eyes. The girl was still hugging him around his middle and grinning like a mad man. "Don't thank me May, Pikachu did all the work." A slight blush came across his face. The two just laid there for a moment subconsciously that was until Caroline interrupted. "Well isn't that so cute. You two remind me of Norman and I at your age."

The two split apart instantly both blushing beat red causing Norman to laugh aloud. "I don't think you were nearly as forward as May was dear." The blue haired man flashed his wife a smile before leaning over to kiss her, ignoring Max as the younger Maple made gagging sounds in the back ground.

Ash had managed to find his feet first and found himself offering his hand to May. He pulled May up to her feet before they pulled apart quickly still blushing from earlier it returned with a vengeance. "Umm Thanks…" May ventured as she felt unsure how to proceed from here.

Luckily for the both of them Max interrupted. He came in front of Ash with a disconcerting smile on his face. "You are the coolest trainer ever! I can't believe you beat Drew while only losing one pokemon."

Ash rubbed the back of his head while laughing nervously. "Well…" He was interrupted for any further comment when Max pulled out his pokedex. "I record every battle I see. Now I have some pointers for you on your form and commands. Let's start with your…" He would have continued probably for hours if Norman had not interrupted.

"Max I am sure you will have more than enough time to talk with Ash before he leaves. How about you help your sister pack for her travels, I have to talk to Ash in private." Norman and Caroline shared a look, the gym leader indicating he meant complete privacy. Caroline quickly shepherded her children back towards the house. May had intercepted Pikachu before the little yellow rodent could make it to Ash.

Ash managed to shoot a smirk towards Pikachu reveling in his pokemon's predicament. "Pikaaa!" Pikachu attempted to escape May's hold but she only snuggled into the little pokemon tighter. Ash followed Norman out of the arena area and into Norman's office still snickering over Pikachu's look of betrayal. Ash took a seat in front of Norman's desk that the gym leader had indicated to before shutting his door.

Both men studied each other for a moment in silence before the gym leader decided to speak up since Ash obviously was not going to. "So…I am sure you think I am pulling you in here to read you the riot act about traveling with my daughter eh?" He raised an eyebrow towards the younger man.

Nodding slightly Ash braced himself for the doom and gloom the older man would undoubtedly inform him of if he hurt May. Of course Ash was not counting on Norman Maple knowing a bit more than expected about his past.

"While I probably could lay into you on traveling with May, I know that would be a pointless venture." Norman glanced over at the door to make sure it was closed before continuing. "I doubt I could touch you even If I wanted to. My concern is what the Burning Nightmare of Cinnabar is doing in my gym and why are you agreeing to escort my daughter around Hoenn?"

He watched as the shock spread across the young man's face. 'Well at least I know this kid is pretty much the worst actor in the world.' Norman kept himself from snorting in amusement over the matter.

Ash's face went through disbelief, shock, and finally slid into a cold mask. The one he used for any serious league business. "Mr. Maple I would like to know where you came across such information." Ash paused a moment deciding if he should go all in or not with the man. 'May already knows part of it as is and Norman obviously knows who I am.' His pondering though was interrupted by Norman.

"Despite the difference in the regions you realize that gym leaders talk. Our family also happened to start off in Johto and I still retain some connections from my old gym in Goldenrod City." Norman paused a moment waiting to see if Ash got the connection.

He grinned when he saw Ash's eyes widen. "Whitney took over when we moved to the Hoenn region. Since not only am I her old mentor but used to be the gym leader we tend to talk once a month or so to inform the other about what is going on in our respective regions. She mentioned to me once, that if I ever see a black haired man that has an exceptionally powerful Pikachu that rides on his shoulder, to pray I am not on the wrong side of the fight."

Ash sighed when Norman revealed where he got the information from. 'Gee thanks Whitney….try to make it sound less like I am a death incarnate.' He took a moment to reflect on how he got himself into these messes…normally through no fault of his own…well normally at least. 'If Lance only knew he would really feel bad for me…possibly even give me a medal over the situations I get into.'

"I did not realize Whitney still spoke with her old gym leader. Then again I do not have as close of a connection with the Johto gym leaders despite the fact Kanto and Johto Rangers tend to work together." Ash motioned for Norman to continue. At the moment there really was not much he could do other than to see where Norman was going with this. 'If he outs me I guess my mission is over.'

The gym leader took Ash's motioning of his hand as confirmation to continue. "When I first saw you I knew someone had mentioned something about you. When your Pikachu performed that last attack though…that is when it all clicked. So once again my main concern is why you have decided to take my daughter along with you." The man was after all first and foremost a family man. "Second of course is what you are doing in Hoenn."

"Well…I am no longer with the Rangers. Officially I am just a trainer attempting to get into the Hoenn League." Ash decided to go all in with the man. The whole point was to make contact with gym leaders about the terrorist groups anyway. "Unofficially I am here on the behest of the Kanto League. Word has been received that surviving members of Team Rocket from the Cinnabar and Lavender campaigns escaped and made it to Hoenn. Our contacts indicate they are joining up with a new group or groups in Hoenn. I am here to access the risk to Kanto and if need be call the Kanto, Johto and Hoenn leagues in for reinforcements once the existence of these groups has been verified and their bases located."

Grabbing a file from one of the cabinets he set it down in front of Ash. "There is a reason other than me just being an overprotective father that I did not want May traveling." With that he spread out the papers in front of Ash so the trainer could see the information Norman had collected.

Norman came around the desk and leaned over the desk and started to leaf through the information. "My gym members and I have caught some low level thugs trying to make a foot hold in Petalburg. There seems to be two different groups. Team Magma wants to expand Hoenn's land somehow to provide more land. Their end game from what I have gathered is to connect Hoenn to the islands we have and turn Hoenn into a fully connected continent. I can't really speculate where they are going from there." Norman shrugged a little with that.

Ash nodded while looking over the information. 'Well all and all they don't seem as bad. At least with the information Norman has with him.' He turned back to Norman before continuing with his train of thought. "Well I can't say their plan sounds like it would threaten Hoenn as it is. Do you have anything about the other group?"

"Unfortunately the information we have from the other team which calls itself Team Aqua appears to be much worse. They plan on expanding the sea…but not in Hoenn. They are searching for something and they plan on harnessing it. They will then subjugate Kanto, Johto, Sinnoh and Unova. If a nation does not comply, Aqua, will use whatever they are looking for to essentially sink that entire continent."

Ash took a moment to review the information Norman had provided him before posing a question to the gym leader. "This appears to be something to look into. I will have to continue to investigate. This information certainly helps. If you have any further information will you let me know?" Ash slowly pushed himself up and out of the chair a smile slipping back onto his face as he addressed Norman. "To answer your question as to why May is traveling with me, well she kinda made me do it." He finished with a sheepish grin as he scratched the back of his head.

Placing the files back into the filing cabinet, Norman made sure to lock the cabinet back up and placed the key back into his jeans. "Just one more thing Ash…there has been some talk that some of the Hoenn gym leaders may be compromised."

"Compromised?" Ash queried already getting a bad feeling about this. 'Crap this is just like what occurred in Kanto.' Back during the Rocket wars not all the gym leaders fought against Team Rocket. The Western portion of Kanto firmly in the League control barring of course Giovanni, while most of the Eastern gym leaders either joined Rocket or played both sides against the middle like Sabrina had to protect her city.

Ash was interrupted by his thoughts by Norman directing Ash out of the room. "I unfortunately cannot confirm which gym leaders that may be compromised other than Juan from Sootopolis City. Regarding May…just make sure you take care of her." Norman smiled before leading Ash out the door. "We should probably get back before Caroline comes to drag us back to the house."

Maple House – First Floor

"So May do you have everything for your trip?" Caroline questioned as she started to clean up dinner. "I am assuming that you two will be staying the night?" She noticed that the Pikachu she had been holding onto on the way over was now on her shoulder.

"Oh man! If he stays over I can review his battle with him and ask him how he trains his pokemon." Max declared while playing with his advanced pokedex. It had an expanded memory, larger camera and sensor along with expanded battle simulation capabilities. "I bet I can even put together a superior training regimen for him that will make up for the weaknesses in his current methods."

"Umm…well I don't really know…one of his friends is supposed to be coming in to the port but I don't know when." May shrugged a little answering her mother first as she continued to pack her bag. A glint entered her eye as she rounded on Max next. "And Max…shut up and leave Ash alone. I swear if you drive him off I will kill you" She finished her sentence by shaking her fist at her younger brother.

Caroline smiled at her two children before gently reprimanding her younger child. "Max don't harass your sister's boyfriend too much." Giggling slightly when May's face turned bright red she went back to work…her job as a mother complete for the moment.

"Mom…" May muttered as she sent her mother a glare which only caused Caroline to laugh even louder. "He is not my boyfriend we are just traveling partners." She grumbled knowing her mother was having too much fun at her expense to stop.

"Whatever you say dear!" Caroline responded with a giggle as she picked up the ketchup bottle.

May noted that Pikachu's ears went up and he suddenly perked up upon the appearance of the ketchup. "Hmm what's up Pikachu?" May asked the little electric rodent.

"Pika!" Pikachu leapt off of May's shoulder and intercepted the bottle of ketchup in Caroline's hand. The little rodent tackling it to the floor and not a moment later was drinking copious amounts of the liquid gold. "Chhhhhhaaaa." Pikachu groaned contently as it rubbed its stomach after gorging itself on the ketchup.

The Maple family all blinked a bit in confusion none quite sure what to say. "Well…he seems to enjoy ketchup…" Caroline smiled as she continued the cleanup leaving May and Max to just nod in agreement.

Just as the family was finishing up their respective chores they heard the door open followed by laughter. "And that is how I managed to defeat Pryce with only a Lickilicky and a Hoothoot." Norman entered the room still grinning with Ash following behind staring at Norman…not in admiration but questioning the man's sanity.

"Dear stop harassing Ash with your old trainer stories…I am sure Ash would rather get to bed." Caroline smiled as she stopped her husband. Ash shot May's mother a smile in thanks. Caroline gave Ash a wink before directing her attention to their guest. "Ash what time do you have to meet your friend Brock tomorrow?"

"Friend?..." Ash queried while looking at Caroline in confusion wondering how she knew Brock's name. "Oh yeah! I forgot April was with me when I was talking to Gary." He smiled slightly while rubbing the back of his head never noticing the room going dead silent.

"Kaaaaa…." Pikachu could not believe his trainer's incompetence sometimes…or inability to remember the people's names.

"_Oh Ash…I would suggest running." _Ash heard Gardevoir speak through their mental link. He looked around and noticed that the entire Maple family had stepped away from the young trainer. May…well she was twitching…'Now why is she twitching…I just said her na…oh fuck.' Ash's eyes widened realizing his mistake.

It was too late for Ash as May was already advancing on him quickly her eyes glowing in anger. "Ash Ketchum! How can you forget my name! I have been traveling with you for the past two days and you saved me twice!"

Ash slowly put his hands up and started to back away while trying to smile in a placating manner. "Eh…now May no reason to be angry…I just forgot is all." He felt the wall behind his back and realized there was no more room to back away from the incoming brunette.

May's finger poked into Ash's chest causing the black haired trainer to grunt. "If I am going to be traveling with you I expect you to remember something as important as my name!" She grinned slightly at Ash's expression of fear which only caused Ash to try to back up against the wall further. "If you confuse my name with another month of the year again I swear you will never live to learn the lesson twice!" Her finger once more poking into the man's chest…hard causing the dark haired trainer to grunt in pain this time.

Ash went back to trying to calm the girl down. "Really May there is nothing to worry about…I will not forget your name again…promise." Luckily May's wraith turned to Max a moment later.

The younger Maple boy pushed his glasses up with his index finger as he smirked at Ash's predicament before commenting. "Well if this is what I can look forward to when I have a girlfriend I think I will pass thank you very much. Though now I know why May never had a boyfriend before…her passion level is way too close to the surface for any guy to stick around her."

Ash and May turned bright red momentarily. May a moment later rounded on Max leaving Ash to sigh in relief as he leaned against the wall. Pikachu and the older Maples simply looked on in amusement. "What did you say runt! I will bury you!"

"See this is the exact reason May! Prime example right here!" Max stated his voice quivering a little in fear as he took off up the stairs towards the sanctuary of his room.

A moment later before the brunette could pursue her little brother, Caroline had grabbed her daughter by the ear…causing her to come to a jarring halt. "Dear if you two are going to get up early tomorrow you better get to bed…and please don't kill your brother." She ended with a smile.

May grumbled a little but looking at the clock she did see it was almost 11. If they were going to get up early in the morning to meet Ash's friend they would probably have to get to bed soon. "Ummm Mom? Should I take Ash up to the guest room?"

Caroline nodded. "Yes please take Ash up to the guest room. I have it set up already!" She smiled as she watched May show Ash up the stairs before calling out. "Remember separate rooms!" Caroline giggled when she heard a crash at the top of the stairs and glanced at her husband who had an amused look on his face.

"Dear you are positively evil." Norman grinned before leaning in and kissing his wife. "I remember why I love you during times like this."

Maple House – Second Floor

"Night May. Thanks for showing me up to the guest room." Ash sent a smile towards the girl as he settled his backpack down by the bed side.

May smiled a little glad to be away from her parents and their teasing for the moment. "Good night Ash…ummm you will be alright tonight right?" May thought back to the night in Oldale when she was woken up by his screams in the middle of the night.

He nodded a bit while kicking his hiking boots off. "No worries May I will be fine I promise."

May nodded a little hesitant before leaving to go to her room and closing the door behind her. 'I hope he really is alright…' She thought as she got herself ready for bed. May made sure to leave her back pack and other traveling gear in a pile by the door where she could easily locate it in the morning.

Ash picked up one of his pokeballs before tossing it casually in the air. "Go Gardevoir." Ash whispered softly. A Gardevoir appeared in a red beam of light. The Psychic pokemon took a moment to observe the new surroundings before turning to her master.

"_Do you require a sound barrier for the night?" _Gardevoir voiced through their shared psychic link. The tone was a little sad and a little disappointed. Then again every time Ash requested she do this the psychic pokemon was a little disappointed that Ash refused to address his issues with anyone. _"You know … if you just spoke to someone about this perhaps the nightmares at least abate." _

The black haired trainer just shook his head as he laid his head back down on the bed and proceeded to stare up at the ceiling. "You worry too much Gardevoir. I just don't want the Maple family waking up in case I have any…dreams."

He swore he heard Gardevoir sigh in annoyance before he noticed the room shine momentarily when the psychic type's barrier went up. "Be a dear and get the lights please." He smiled for a moment before the room was suddenly engulfed in darkness. The Ranger's eyes closed as he felt himself be lulled to sleep.

Ash's nightmares –

_Moltres let loose another torrent of flame off to the North as the giant fire bird was directed at Mewtwo's behest. 'It seems that Mewtwo has really taken to killing Rockets with Moltres.' He smirked as he continued onwards. He knew his pokemon were in the area somewhere. Salamence and Charizard had obviously destroyed the Dragonite problem. Those two had taken off North West to back up Moltres. _

_He withdrew the sword that had been across his back as he ran into another Rocket contingent. "DIE!" The two rocket members in the back literally lose their heads before the remaining five knew what was occurring. _

"_Looks like a Ranger just took on more than he expected." Ash's next swing was blocked by a huge forearm covered in metal. The giant of a man grinned down at Ash as he flicked his blonde shock of hair. "Men I will take care of this one myself. You go to reinforce the South side, I will join you momentarily." _

_Ash's face contorted as he pressed the blade down harder onto the man's forearm. The blonde man just laughed harder. "Well it looks like the baby Ranger wants to fight for real. Then prepare yourself for Lt. Surge!" The Blonde man yelled his other elbow coming around and slamming through Ash's guard. _

_He felt himself fly backwards the way he came, Ash quickly twisted the sword and stabbed it into the ground. Even using the sword as an anchor he felt himself slide back a few more feet as he managed to catch himself…barely. 'Well this makes life nice and easy. I just need to find Koga and Giovanni and I can have the complete set.' He thought briefly. _

"_RAIIIIIIIIIII!" Ash barely had a moment's notice before he brought his knee up in front of him. Managing to catch Surge's Raichu in the face before he spun using his sword to propel him, his foot flew into the stunned Raichu sending it back towards Surge. "I have no time to play with your pokemon Surge. I'm going to fucking kill you!" _

_Surge laughed at the pint sized Ranger. "Kid you got balls I will say that…even managed to stop Raichu but…that won't stop me from ending your life!" With that Surge charged Ash once more. The Electric type gym leader brought both his hands down towards Ash in a hammer fist. The young Ranger barely managed to roll out of the way. He pulled his sword along with him attempting to cut Surge up the middle as he rolled to the side. _

_Once more Surge caught the blade with the metal bracers he wore. A grin spread across Surge's face as he turned to face the smaller man that had withstood not two attacks from him without wincing. "So the baby can take some hits. Well little man…I hate to cut this short but I can't play with you any longer. Raichu! Finish him with iron tail!"_

"_RAI! RAI RAI!" The giant electric mouse's long whip like tail started to glow silver on the thunderbolt shaped tip. Raichu whipped the tail around quickly attempting to cut off Ash's head with one swing. Ash managed to bring his sword up to block and deflect the tail. _

_Raichu grinned for a moment before reversing the direction of its tail and bringing it back around towards the Ranger. Surge grinned in triumph but it turned to surprise as Raichu's tail was intercepted by a Pikachu using its own iron tail. "THE FUCK! You little cheat!" Surge screamed. 'Now I know who this is…I remember now.' "Raichu it is baby's Pikachu. Time for a rematch…smash it!" _

"_Pikachu destroy Raichu!" Ash growled as he glanced out of the corner of his eye. The Pikachu and its evolution had started out an all-out war in an attempt to comply with their master's orders. Surge's Raichu attempted to crush Pikachu with psychical attacks while Pikachu would duck around the larger rodent and tear into its sides. _

_Ash managed to refocus on Surge just in time too. He leaned back out of the way of Surge's punch before he pivoted around under Surge's guard and smashed into his solar plexus with his elbow. He felt the older man crumple in on himself from the blow. Dancing out of the ay of Surge's retaliatory strike, Ash landed in a crouched position a few feet out of Surge's reach._

_The blonde man coughed a few flecks of blood coming out the sides of his mouth as attempted to breathe deeply which only ended up in him shuddering from the pain. His free hand grabbed his side in pain as he glared at Ash. "Fucking twit…you can land a hit that is for sure! My question is can you take one!" _

_Ash did not have a chance to even counter. One moment Surge was in front of him the next he felt one of Surge's hands wrap around his neck and lift him into the air. The arm with the metal bracer bashed Ash's sword from his hand. Even enraged as he was over losing Leaf it could only go so far. He started to struggle for air as Surge started to squeeze Ash's throat. _

"_You did good baby…but I am going to tear out your optics!" (A/N: Bonus points if you can guess the movie) Surge laughed as Ash's hands started to claw at his one hand gripping the younger man's throat. The electric gym leader brought his other hand came up and he started to dig his fingers into Ash's eyes. _

_Ash tried to scream in pain but he already felt the fingers digging into his sockets. Surge's grip was too hard to grip even trying to shake his head away the block spots started to cloud into his vision. _

'_Ash…your knives…' Right as he was blacking out he felt Mewtwo's voice in his head. Not stopping to think he suddenly remembered the emergency knives he always kept on him. Half blind from Surge's attempts to rip out his eyes and barely conscious, Ash managed to grab a knife from belt and mostly through luck stabbed it into Surge's arm holding his throat._

"_FUCK, you little Fucking shit!" Surge hissed in pain as he dropped Ash and stumbled back from the Ranger. He grabbed the knife lodged in his arm and ripped it out. Surge looked down at his bleeding arm and looked over at Ash who was currently recovering._

_Ash fell to the ground the black spots receding from his vision as he continued to take in huge breathes of air. His voice was still raspy from his heavy breathing. "Fuck you Surge. I hope you enjoyed your time with Rocket because you are about to take an early retirement." He managed to pull himself to his feet still breathing in ragged huge gasps. _

"_Well the baby has claws. I think I am going to use your skin as a nice blanket for Raichu after I rip it off of you." Surge grinned before slipping in towards Ash. His hands were about to come down on the kid's shoulders and lift Ash off the ground again. _

_Ash slipped in under Surge's guard again; quickly producing two jagged hunting knives from his belt he drove them both into Surge's chest. He continued forward pushing them down to the hilt and reversing Surge's charge he slammed the giant of a man into the ground onto his back. "Don't worry Surge, you won't be lonely for long, Giovanni and Koga will join you shortly." _

_Surge only had a moment to attempt to cough out a reply before Ash viciously stomped on the man's throat until it collapsed. It left Surge to gurgle on the blood collecting in his collapsed throat as he attempted to get air that would not come. _

_Taking one last look at the expiring Surge, Ash turned to Raichu and Pikachu to find Pikachu standing triumphantly over Raichu's corpse. The orange rodents entrails littered the area around it spilling out from the pokemon's sides. "Pika!" _

"_Good work Pikachu! Hang with me…we are going to wipe out Koga and Giovanni." Ash grinned as the little yellow mouse jumped off of Raichu's corpse still trailing blood as he jumped onto his trainer's shoulder. "We'll kill them all…they will burn for what they did to Leaf." Ash whispered to his Pikachu. Both the pokemon and the man had grins on their faces that were bordering on mania from the blood lust that was surging through their respective veins. 'Everyone will die. I will kill them all.' _

_The two members continued down the street killing any Rocket Teams they ran into. What they two did not realize was that even with Moltres burning the Rocket's alive in the North, Gardevoir and Lucario holding the line in the middle, and Lance advancing along the Southern flank they were becoming cut off completely from any type of reinforcements. _

Maple House –

Ash woke up screaming. His eyes wildly darting around the room he noticed the morning light seeping in through the blinds. Groaning a little Ash realized he had been sweating profusely during his nightmare. "…Fuck." He picked himself up and decided to grab a quick shower before heading down to the docks to meet up with Brock. 

The moment he walked out the door in his towel he got a whiff of a delicious smell coming up from the kitchen downstairs. He felt his stomach grumble. "I hope Mrs. Maple is making another feast."

His thoughts on breakfast were waylaid when he heard a door opening nearby. He turned around only to turn bright red…May had been exiting her room also in only a towel that only covered down to her mid-thigh. Both trainers stood there frozen blushing like tomatoes.

May let out a little "Epp!" when she realized that she was standing in the hallway half naked in front of Ash…and that Ash was standing half naked in front of her as well. "Erm you can go first!" She managed to squeak out before retreating to her room and slamming the door.

Maple House- Kitchen

Once again the Maple family had varying levels of disbelief over their face watching as Ash and May had "breakfast" or possibly a feast. The family was not quite sure. Pikachu was in the corner nursing another bottle of pilfered ketchup from the Maple's fridge.

Finally the two tornados quieted before May's mother coughed slightly bringing everyone out of their stupor. "You two should probably head down to the port now if you friend Brock is coming in this morning, he should be arriving on the next cruise ship in about twenty minutes." Caroline smiled as she watched the chaos ensue.

Ash and May hurriedly grabbed their backpacks and were just making it down the stairs to find Max also fully packed and ready to go. The youngest Maple smirked at the two while pushing his glasses up off the edge of his nose. "If it is alright I want to come with you for a little while. I did not have enough time to provide you a proper training schedule."

The younger boy waited for Ash to answer a smile on his face. 'No way he can deny the need for my expertise from joining the journey!'

"No." Ash said as he moved around the younger Maple and went into the kitchen to find Norman and Caroline. Luckily for Ash both were in the kitchen still taking care of the mess that May and Ash had left behind.

"Thanks for the dinner and breakfast Mrs. Maple it was fantastic!" Ash smiled. "Umm…sorry though for possibly eating you out of house and home." He rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. He was surprised when Mrs. Maple approached him and brought him into a gentle hug. For a moment Ash reveled in the hug, ever since his mom had been taken by Team Rocket no really hugged him.

"Don't worry about it for a moment dear and call me Caroline. It was nice meeting such a young and responsible young man." Caroline smiled brightly at the younger man before disengaging from the hug and patting the young man on the shoulder. "Just make sure to take care of May and bring her back safe."

Ash nodded his face completely serious…for the moment. "Don't worry Mrs… er Caroline I will keep May completely safe." Caroline nodded once before a sly grin spread across her features. Poor May was blushing something awful behind Ash not that he could see.

Norman shot a smirk at his blushing daughter before pulling Ash off to the side. "If you don't mind taking Max with you…just through the Petalburg Forest since you are heading that way anyway. I would appreciate it. After you get to Rustboro City he should be fine on his own."

"What!" May practically growled upon hearing her father. Behind her she heard Max whooping for joy as he charged into the kitchen and hugged his father.

Ash nodded a little bit at Norman's request. 'Just my luck…conned into watching May already and now I have to make sure Max is safe. Lucky Brock focuses so much on defensive maneuvers in case we get into anything.' He grumbled in his head. On the outside though Ash just kept a smile on his face. "Sure thing he will be safe while he journeys with us."

Receiving another thankful smile from Caroline he decided to step outside and wait for the two Maples to say goodbye to their parents in private. "I'll be outside waiting." With that he gave a final wave to Norman and Caroline before stepping out the door.

"Alright kids…I want you both to be careful. Listen to everything Ash tells you to do, I don't care how odd it sounds. He will be able to keep you safe and if he is anything to go by, his friend Brock will be just as able." Norman kept his tone serious for a moment before Norman took both his kids in to a hug under each arm. "Remember I will be proud of both of you no matter what you do."

Both kids smiled and returned their dad's hug before their mother stepped in. Caroline first straightened Drew's hair. "Remember not to bother your sister too much." She gave Max a bone crushing hug before turning to her daughter. "Now remember dear…make sure to use protection with your boyfriend. I don't want to be a young grandmother." She gave her daughter a serious look before she giggled. "Then again maybe I wouldn't mind being a young grandmother. You think your mom could pull off being a sexy grandmother like in those TV shows you watch?" Caroline winked at her daughter.

"Ma…Ma…Mother!" May hissed as her face turned beat red. This only caused her mother to laugh harder. Norman just shook his head in mock disappointment.

"Dear you really are evil." Norman commented before he shot a small smile towards his daughter. "Just make sure you don't make me a grandfather too early." He grinned when his daughter went from beat red to almost steaming.

May grumbled under her breath. "Have you two ever heard of parenting…I need to get you a book on it." She was silenced when her mother hugged her once again.

"Oh honey I just want to see you happy and I don't think I have ever seen you so taken with a young man." Caroline hugged her daughter once more. "You call me if you need to talk and remember I love you no matter what."

Ash looked up when he saw the youngest Maples appear out the front door. Both of them were bright red from their parent's version of goodbye. "Hey May and Max! Are you guys ready to get down to the harbor?"

With a final wave to the older Maples the small group headed down to the Petalburg City sea port.

Petalburg City – Port

Ash, May, and Max managed to make it to the port just as the cruise ship from the Kanto region had started unloading. "So which one is Brock?" Max asked as he looked around trying to identify the newest member of the group.

Ash smiled as he spotted a large man stepping off the ship. He was a tall man with a tan complexion. His face seemed to be in a permanent scrunch giving him the impression of being a severe individual. He wore what appeared to be dark brown cargo pants and a dark orange shirt with a brown hiking vest. "There he is! Brock down here!" He yelled out to his friend and started waving his hand.

A/N: Alright I did not quite get the group out of Petalburg City like I had planned. Next chapter we will have the first introduction with Brock. Then they will head out of the city and into the Petalburg Woods. The woods may take a chapter or two but I don't plan on keeping them in there for three chapters like Petalburg City turned into. Hope you enjoyed and I will try to update next weekend or sooner.


	6. The Petalburg Woods - Overgrow

A/N: Here we go Chapter 6…holy crap almost to 40,000 words what up. Long A/N at the end so onto the chapter.

Chapter 6 – The Petalburg Woods - Overgrow

Sounds of battle interrupted the normal silence of the Petalburg woods. All around smoke poured out of the tree tops and fires blazed across trees and the underlying grass. Hyper beams ripped up the ground and weapons clashed. Wild pokemon scattered to get out of the area before they became caught up in the growing fight that spread across the Petalburg Woods.

"Steelix! Iron Defense!" Brock shouted out to his Steelix while blocking another blow from Cassidy with his bo staff. The giant steel snake curled itself in around Max and the young girl keeping the both of the children safe from the Raticate that continually probed Steelix's defenses for a way past the iron snake to the children hidden inside.

"Don't let that Raticate through!" Brock heard the roar from Steelix acknowledging his orders before turning back to Cassidy. This was not exactly what he expected In Hoenn when he got off of the cruise ship this morning.

The golden haired woman smirked. "Well it has been a long time hasn't it Brock. When was the last time we did this?" She ended her question with another attempt to get past Brock's defenses. Her twin trench knives seeking to drive into his flesh she brought them in high and low to cut off any chance of blocking both.

Brock danced back while spinning his staff he managed to deflect both blows before swinging his staff into her side sending Cassidy into the tree line. "I forgot how much fun it was to use you as a punching bag!" Brock grinned momentarily taking a moment to observe the fight between Steelix and Raticate. Despite the size advantage his giant pokemon was forced to stay mostly stationary. The giant rat continued to use hyper fang attacks on the Iron snake but luckily Steelix took the hits without flinching.

Deciding he better provide Steelix some offensive power he took a moment to unclip another pokeball from his mag belt and threw it towards Steelix's location. "Go! Golem! Help Steelix with Raticate he can't attack while protecting those kids!"

Golem appeared in a burst of bright red light. The rock ball pokemon roared in acknowledgement as it tucked it'\s arms and legs in and started a roll out attack. Brock watched his pokemon for a moment longer to make sure no further Rocket's appeared. "I hope May and Ash are alright…" He muttered unsure how they were handling Botch and the grunts.

"Hn?" Brock muttered as suddenly the sun was blocked out above him. Cassidy had recovered and had used a nearby tree to come down at Brock from above. The tan ex-gym leader just managed to catch Cassidy's trench knives again on his staff. He was barely able to deflect the ex-Rocket Member due to her bringing her full weight down behind the knives. "I would ask why you are going through all this trouble for a little girl but seeing as you just murdered that older woman in front of her I suppose I should just end this!"

Bringing his staff around in a quick spin he charged Cassidy who started to dance back away from the flurry of strikes. What she could not dodge she deflected with her knives. "You are getting old Brocky boy...your movements are slowing down and since the League won't put you out to pasture I will do it for them!" She came in quick driving up the middle right through Brock's defenses.

Earlier that day –

Petalburg City Port –

Brock looked across the crowd attempting to find the source of the yell. Finally he spotted the young trainer. A smile came over his face as he became lost in thought. 'It has been too long Ash…hold on a tic…' His thoughts trailed off when he noticed the hottie standing by his friend. 'Holy Shit! I am in love!' A determined look came over his face as he rapidly made his way through the crowd.

"Over here Brock!" Ash yelled out to his longtime partner and friend as he waved his arm in a frantic motion to keep Brock zeroed in on the party.

Pikachu also assisted by climbing onto the top of Ash's head and waved one of his paws as well. "Pika! Pi!"

Once he was sure that Brock had zeroed in on them, Ash dropped his arm and shot a smile towards his two traveling companions. "You guys are going to love Brock. He is an excellent cook." His gaze lingered on May with that comment.

"He only has one real fault." Ash laughed a little as he rubbed the back of his head. The dark haired Ranger was about to continue on with his line of thought but unfortunately for him it was too late.

'Almost there my beautiful…oh the sun and stars could not outshine her….no too simple for one so beautiful.' Brock quickened his pace to a run when he broke through the crowd. A large smile had come over his face as he zeroed in on the small group.

'Oh fucking hell…' Ash's last thought as his smile went to one of fear over what he knew would occur next. May and Max just stood there with some confusion on their face not really knowing what to expect of Ash's new friend…unfortunately the found out a moment later.

The tanned man skidded to a halt as he dropped to his knees in front of May His hands gently cupped one of May's in his own large hands. A large smile crossed his face as he looked up into the face of the beautiful girl…no angel in front of him. "You outshine the sun, the stars, and the galaxy above! Will you do the honor of being…no such a weak word…for you going on a date with me would be, beyond an honor for me. I will devote my life to your happiness and you will want for nothing my love!"

Brock took no notice of May's discomfort as he worked on the words in his head. "Curse my mortal brain! It cannot comprehend such beauty of an angel." He stared adoringly towards May. "That's right my angel the look on your face…the hesitation I can see it you are worried my love is not strong enough?" Brock suddenly jumped to his feet. "My love is so strong I will recite a thousand love ballads right here and now!"

"…And complete flirt…" Ash muttered more to himself than anyone else. He noticed May's discomfort over the whole ordeal. The young girl was turning red as Brock continued to recite poems of love…which slowly started to draw attention from the nearby crowd. Max did not appear to be helping either and in fact was enjoying May's discomfort.

Correcting his glasses the youngest Maple sent his blushing sister a smirk. "Well sis looks like once again you managed to attract another crazy. First Drew and his creepy flowers by your windows and now this guy reciting love poems in public." Max just shook his head…he would never understand girls or what guys saw in his older sister.

"Alright Pikachu…think you can do a precision dissection?" He questioned the yellow rodent when he decided that they were drawing too much attention. "Pika!" The electric mouse grinned viciously before his red cheek sacs started to spark with electricity.

"Know that I will move the heavens to be with you my swee…" "CHU!" A moment later a giant lightning bolt burst forth from Pikachu and hit Brock directly. Carefully controlling the current, the little mouse kept a positive feedback loop going between Brock and Pikachu, very careful to avoid the mistress of the ketchup.

A smoking Brock finally let get of May's hand…and promptly dropped over to the ground charred and smoking a little. Once again Pikachu showed off his technical skills by completely avoiding burning Brock's clothing. "Pikaaaaaaaa…." The yellow pokemon grinned up at May.

"Thanks Pikachu…that was an experience." May finally inspected her hand and was pleased to find that her glove was not even singed. She picked the Pikachu off the ground and brought him up into a hug with a smile. "You are the best Pikachu! Why not travel with me for a while." She placed Pikachu up onto her shoulder with a smile.

Kneeling down over his friend he picked up one of Brock's blackened arms and dragged him up to his feet. "Nice entrance Brock…really." Ash muttered to Brock before setting the Rock Trainer upright. "Well Brock hope you had a nice voyage…I want you to meet Max and May Maple…they will be traveling with us for a while." He pointed out the Maples before leaning in a little closer to Brock.

"Max Maple…the superior of the two…in fact I will one day be a Pokemon Master." The young trainer paused in thought for a moment before a light bulb went off. "Hey aren't you the old Pewter Gym Leader?"

"May Maple…and pay no attention to him." May grumbled as she could not decide upon who she wanted to glare at more her brother or Brock. She settled on glaring at Brock and pushing her little brother. This seemed to satisfy her natural tendency of violence in response to being embarrassed or annoyed.

"Well as you know I am Brock!" The tall man smiled at the younger Maple. "I am always glad to see a fan of an old gym leader."

Max smiled at the recognition. "So what are you doing in Hoenn? Not to mention what have you been doing since you left the gym? Last I heard you participated in the Rocket Wars in Kanto. I hope you have some awesome stories!"

Sidling over next to Brock and dropping his voice down to a whisper before speaking since the next topic was sensitive. "Not a word about the old days Brock-o. They know I was a Ranger but nothing more." Leaning back he shot a smile towards the two Maples before bringing his volume up to normal levels. "Well you will have more than enough time to grill Brock on his goings on during our trip through Petalburg woods. May or Max would one of you like to lead the way?" Ash glanced between the two.

Max was about to step forward and offer up his navigational services…his pokedex had the most upgraded map software package available…but May beat him to it. "This way!"

May started walking off towards the Western portion of the city leaving the other three trainers to attempt to keep up.

Letting the two Maples take point Brock and Ash dropped back a far enough distance so that they would not be overheard by the two. Taking a quick glance around and deciding it was safe enough Brock motioned for Ash's attention before posing his question. "So not that I am complaining about the company but where and why did you pick up these two?"

Ash coughed slightly before rubbing the back of his head. He pondered Brock's question as he observed May ahead…she was rather cute wasn't she. 'Crap where the hell was that from…stay on point Ketchum.' Grinning a little at Brock to cover up his inattention to Brock's question, Ash finally answered the question. "Well...May kinda ended up forcing me to take her and Max is just with us through the forest. Their father is the gym leader of Petalburg and I am kinda doing it as a favor."

The tanned trainer nodded at Ash's answer. 'Figures…Ash always manages to get himself into something.' "Well I guess we will deal with anything that comes up. I mean how bad could the woods get anyway?" Brock laughed while looking over at Ash who flashed him a grin.

"Hopefully not too crazy but at the same time from what Norman told me I am hoping to stumble upon something. Worst comes to worst we can drop Max off at the next city and come back." Ash then started to explain everything that Norman had told him to Brock so they were both on the same level.

Brock and Ash walked along in silence for a moment a moment before Brock punched Ash's shoulder lightly. "Figures you would get angry at Gary overreact and almost blow everything." He laughed at the younger man. "I still can't ascertain why they sent you, good thing Brock is here to help you out."

Shaking his head in disbelief at his old partner Ash just smirked. A pensive look came over his face and he glanced up to make sure the Maple siblings were still out of hearing range. "So any news on the home front I should be concerned about?"

"Hm…" Brock also glanced towards the siblings and contemplated for a bit. 'Luckily everything seems quiet…almost too quiet but nothing Ash needs to worry about.' "Well Ash to be honest nothing." Then Brock grinned at Ash causing Ash to sweat drop a little. "But there is one thing I do want you to talk to you about."

"And what is that?" Ash muttered…he had a really bad feeling about this a really bad feeling.

Brock laughed at his younger friend's expression. "I being the master of love have detected the radiating love connection between yourself and the lovely Miss. Maple." Brock grinned when he saw Ash's expression go from pensive to angry.

Growling a little in anger he pushed Brock away. "Don't look so smug Brock there is nothing going on. You know I will always belong to her."

Brock's carefree grin dropped away and it was replaced with concern. "You know she wouldn't want this Ash. It has been years since…"

"You don't know what she would want." He hissed towards the older man throwing him a glare that Brock had only seen once. That was when he came across Ash at the end of the Cinnabar campaign. "Just shut up and leave it."

He was slightly taken aback by the anger but decided to leave it…for now. "Alright Ash…but this isn't over."

"Whatever…" Ash grumbled as he started to close the distance between himself and the Maple siblings. He no longer felt like being around Brock to be grilled and he knew Brock would go back to his happy facade in front of the Maple siblings.

"Come on guys we are almost out of the city!" Max turned back around and called out to the two lagging Rangers.

Ash and Brock shot a tentative smile at each other before they pushed forward to catch up with the Maple siblings and into the range of the bickering. The two were currently fighting over which way would be the fastest through the woods.

"Come on midget!" May grinned as she messed up her brother's hair. "Take a ride on the wild side and just agree to take my way. It will be a greater adventure anyway!"

Max scoffed at his sister while fixing his hair. "Well May, using my navigational upgrade we should be through in about two days…if we go your way we will probably die in there."

In response May only laughed at her younger brother. "It only took a week for me to get through…but I found all the short cuts!"

Grumbling a response something along the lines of "Doubt it" Max just gave up on trying to convince her to go his way. In an attempt to appeal to a higher authority Max turned to Ash and turned on his best puppy dog face. "Please tell May to let me use my pokenav…she will get us lost and I don't want to die before my time!"

Ash just grinned before shaking his head. "I am not getting into this and look we are almost to the woods anyway!" He patted the younger boy's shoulder in an attempt to comfort him. "Don't worry I will make sure nothing bad happens to you while we are in there."

Petalburg Woods – Petalburg City entrance

The group had been hiking along the trail for approximately 30 minutes before May had elected to take the group down one of her short cuts. Not 30 minutes later they were hiking through the underbrush with no trail in sight.

Everyone in the group appeared to feel differently about this. May appeared confident in her ability to locate her short cut and knew for a fact this would take hours off their journey. Max appeared hesitant and resisted the urge to beg Ash to turn around before they all died. Ash followed May confident that May would lead them on the right path. Brock on the other hand was also becoming hesitant about the path and began marking the way back with his combat knife.

Coming out of the brush they came out into a field. A few feet away Max saw what appeared to be a giant almost human sized Zigzagoon. "Whoa! Look at that Zigzagoon! I'm gonna catch it!"

Ash, May and Brock just observed as Max threw a pokeball releasing his Ralts. "Alright Ralts let's go!"

"Careful Max!" May yelled out to her little brother, despite any fights they may have about anything and everything else, He was still her little brother.

Max shot a superior smile at his sister. "May while you may be a great coordinator I know every pokemon out there. With Ralts superior special attack range this fight will be easy no matter what the size."

"Last time I worry about you brat!" May's eyes practically shot fire as she glared at her little brother.

All the commotion had disturbed the giant Zigzagoon. The giant pokemon finally turned towards the group. Max was about to order an attack when the pokemon started to speak.

"Do not attack fellow travelers for I am just like you!" The Zigzagoon started to walk towards the group and as it got closer the group realized that it had a human face.

Max and May started to scream and point towards the pokemon creature. "Whaaa…what is that!" May yelled and turned towards Ash and Brock. "Kill it kill it kill it!"

"What fresh new hell is this?" Ash muttered to himself as he stared at the pokemon man creature…whatever the fuck this was.

Brock seemed to have a similar attitude as he debated throwing out one of his pokemon but decided against it for the moment. 'Perhaps this is standard in Hoenn?' He turned to Max and May from their looks though he was thinking perhaps not.

The pokemon creature smirked at the reactions he received. Clearly he enjoyed freaking people out that came across one of his hand made creations. "Hello fellow travelers! I am Nicholai the scientist." He grinned at the group as a whole. "I study pokemon up close and personal by disguising myself like one. Currently I am working on a secret project." He winked at the group while waggling his finger still covered in the Zigzagoon suit. "But I can't tell you what it is. Suffice to say I am studying how Pokemon detect certain objects."

"Right…" Ash muttered as he leaned over closer to Brock. He whispered just loud enough so Brock could hear. "This guy appears to be another nut job like that researcher at Mt. Moon who dressed up like the Clefairy."

Brock nodded a little in agreement. "Probably harmless but just in case we should keep our guard up."

Max ignored the near silent interplay between the two Rangers. He on the other hand had turned his full attention to Nicholai. "That sounds so cool! I would love to study pokemon as closely as you do." The young trainer smiled as he recalled his Ralts seeing no need to for the small psychic pokemon to be out and about. "Hey… so we are totally lost…"

"WE are not lost! I know exactly where we are going!" May interrupted while glaring at her younger brother. She huffed when she watched Max roll his eyes, long gone were the days where she could completely cow him with her glare.

The blue haired boy continued on as if his older sister had not interrupted him in the first place. "Right as I was saying we are kind of lost and I was kind of hoping you could help get us out of here. At the least point us back to the main path."

Nicholai nodded a bit and seemed to think about it for a moment. 'Just got to keep them from going North and they should be out lickity split.' He smiled at the group ignoring the glare that May was shooting back at them. "Right well we just have to turn ourselves around here and head down a ways before making a hard right. That will get you back on the path! I will even take the time to sho-"

The brunette trainer felt no remorse in cutting Nicholai off. "Sorry Nicholai! We are not lost and I know exactly where I am going. I happen to know there is a short cut ahead that will shave days off our trip through the woods!"

Ash scratched his head a little trying to think back to what May had said early. "Ummm…May not to point anything out…but ummm didn't you say hours last time?" He queried in what he hoped was a respectful tone. Last thing he wanted to do was to start a fight with the hot headed girl.

There was no way that her short cut would be circumvented. She was not spending any more time in this forest than necessary thanks to some weird-o in a pokemon suit. "Doesn't matter what I said earlier Ash! We will be out of here before you know it!" She started to march off into the woods clearly expecting everyone else to follow. "Come on slow pokes!"

"Well she certainly is the forceful one isn't she?" Brock laughed at his comment before a smile slid onto his face. It had been too long before he had gone on a true nature hike. Rather than fight it he decided to revel in the experience. "Well come on guys let's get going!"

Ash followed along behind Brock. He turned his head to look back at the two last members. "Hey Nicholai you don't have to come with if you don't want."

Max looked at the researcher in distress for a moment before he threw on the best puppy dog eyes. "Please say you will come, we will need someone that actually knows the Western and Northern part of the forest. I don't want to die because my big sister is a sadist."

The researcher quickly took his ZigZagoon costume off and packed it into his bag. He seemed to think about it before nodding towards the two. "I will come with you. I have to make a report back with the man that is backing my research anyway."

Max smiled before he started into a long conversation with the odd researcher regarding pokemon and what exactly his research entailed. Nicholai appeared to be equally consumed with the conversation which left the other three to walk in near silence. None of the remaining party wanted to draw attention to themselves by either Max or Nicholai and possibly be drawn into the conversation.

It was some time later when May who had taken point with Pikachu suddenly heard a cry from a little ways up the path she was cutting clear through the underbrush. "Pikachu…can you go ahead and report back?" May whispered quietly to her traveling partner's pokemon.

"Chaaaa…" The little yellow rodent seemed to agree with May's request and quickly scampered off towards the source of the sounds.

A moment later Ash and Brock arrived by May who was standing in herself made path and appeared to be looking for something. "Hey what's up May? Where is Pikachu?" Ash said as he looked around for his pokemon that should have been running point with May.

"Shut up Ash!" She whisper yelled at the black haired Ranger as she shot him a glare. "I heard something up ahead." Her tone conveyed the concern with just a little bit of fear making its way into her voice. "Pikachu volunteered to scout ahead."

Ash was about to respond and to tell her not to just use his Pikachu without his consent when Pikachu broke out of the bushes. The small pokemon started to chatter frantically at May before it noticed Ash was there. Immediately the small pokemon turned to Ash and started to relay what is saw to Ash in a series of hand motions and well words. "Pikkka! Pi Pi Pi! Pikkkkkka….Chuuuu." The small pokemon chattered quickly hoping its trainer got it all.

By this time Max and Nicholai had caught up to the two just as Ash and Brock were pulling out larger pokeballs from their bags. The two balls were storage balls after all Rangers were not expected to walk around fully geared with weapons at all times. It traded convenience for battle readiness but all in all it was a more realistic option.

"What's going on?" Max queried as he noticed Brock and Ash outfitting themselves with weaponry. Ash was adjusting combat knives and kunai placing them in multiple loops and pockets in his vest, belt, and pants. Some of the knives even made their way into his shirt. "Brock I need you to watch out for Max and Nicholai over here. May you are Brock's back up."

Brock nodded as he adjusted his bo-staff and slipped on his light weight Kevlar armor. A wicked looking combat knife or two made their way into Brock's sleeves. He then placed two Kevlar bracers over his arms. "Not a problem Ash..."

Max was growing frustrated with the fact no one was answering him and also a little frightened. This was definitely not something he had ever encountered while traveling on his own during his journey he started last year. "What are you doing Ash!?"

Taking a moment away from preparation he shot a confident smile towards Max. "Just prepping for a high level extraction, per Pikachu there are two people ahead that seem to be holding two older people and a child hostage. I plan on getting rid of them. Now you guys stay here and on guard."

Shooting one last smile at the group, Ash disappeared into the underbrush with Pikachu following behind him. May looked on with a hint of worry, she knew Ash would be fine but still…

Nicholai glanced around quickly. He needed to get reinforcements in case things went poorly and luckily he knew just where to get some quick back up. "Brock…" The young researcher had quickly sidled up to the older trainer who was obviously left in charge. Once he had the man's attention he continued. "My station is nearby….I think I can run quickly and get us some reinforcements…in case things go pear shaped."

"Hm…Alright Nicholai…just be careful." Brock felt he could not tell the younger man not to go since he was not officially part of their group anyway. Still he was not completely comfortable letting the man go with Ash on the move. The dark skinned man watched as Nicholai disappeared into the forest.

Ash glanced back at the group before disappearing into the underbrush he slowly moved up ahead creeping around the edges of the clearing he came across a familiar sight. Botch and Cassidy…he would recognize those hair colors anywhere.

'Crap still too far away to hear what they are saying…' Ash glanced over at Pikachu who was stealthily shadowing Ash in the long grass. Unfortunately for Ash there was no good way to make his way into the field on this side of the clearing without being seen right away. Currently Butch and Cassidy had knives out and seemed to be threatening the older pair…while the younger girl was in tears. "Great…" Ash grumbled as he slowly slide into the tree line and started to circle around the clearing.

Finally Ash was coming within ear shot and he strained his ears for a chance at the conversation while moving into a better position to take both of the trainers out in one go.

"Come on Gramps!" Butch shook the older man by his shirt. "All you need to do is let us take the girl and you are home free. Just need you to hand her over and provide us with the location code."

The older man must have said something that Butch didn't like because a moment later Cassidy had stabbed the older woman with one of her trench knives into the older woman's shoulder. "Oh my I slipped…now if only I had a location code I ma—"

Cassidy trailed off as she was interrupted by Brock, May, Max, and Nicholai suddenly bursting out of the forest. "Shit…"

"What the fuck…" Ash muttered as he glanced down at Pikachu. "Pikachu we are going to have to go now…the little girl is our main priority the other two our secondary."

"Pika…" Pikachu nodded as it attempted to assess the situation itself and the best way to get through.

Brock and the others were awaiting for Nicholai to return with reinforcements when they suddenly saw Nicholai coming charging out of the woods. "GO GO GO!" The young research screamed as he kept running past the three.

The three only had a moment to figure out what was occurring when men obviously not associated with any type of research team burst out of the thick under brush.

"Go! Into the clearing!" Brock managed to yell before practically pushing May and Max into action. The four managed to clear the tree line before the new grunts had managed to regroup.

"Steelix! Go!" Brock yelled as he managed to get one of his pokeballs off his belt and threw it ahead of them. The group attempted to maneuver themselves so they did not become separated from Ash completely. The giant steel snake assisted with the intimidation factor. The moment the grunts cleared the tree line most attempted to back pedal away from Steelix.

"Shit that's why…" Ash observed the pitched battle that had started. May had called forth her Venasaur, Wartortle, Blaziken, and Glaceon for the fight. The grunts appeared to have gotten over their initial fear of Steelix and had started sending forth their pokemon mainly consisting of Gyardos, Lapras, and Marill. A few Octillery and Mudkips were also included in the mix. "Hn water pokemon…that gives me an idea to help out at least, Pikachu maneuver over to Brock and May quickly."

Ash started to move towards Butch and Cassidy just as Cassidy had decided to slit the old woman's throat with her knife. "Butch we have to move…"

"Pikachu! Thunder Struck!" Ash called out as he put on the speed and rammed into Butch with his elbow…his other arm coming around in a quick jab attempting to slice into Butch with his sword. Luckily for Butch he had slipped a little and managed to turn it into a roll, bringing the teal haired man out of the way of the blade's path.

"Pikkkkaaaa….CHU!" The small electric rodent gathered electricity in its pouches before bringing down a jagged lightning attack. The moment it hit the ground it turned into a massive thunder wave. The wave of electricity rocked the mostly water pokemon causing massive damage in the direct blast zone and paralyzing effects in the outer pokemon.

"Thanks Ash!" May called out as she directed her Venasaur to use its vine whip to keep back most of the water pokemon. She depended on her other three pokemon to hold the flanks.

Cassidy growled as she released her Raticate. "Go Raticate!" She glared at Ash for a moment and then observed the poor Max child all be his lonesome. "Hyper fang on that blue haired child!"

"Brock! Intercept the Raticate!" Ash yelled over the din of the fighting. Butch had used the time to recover from the attack and had pulled out two sickle like weapons. Taking one last glance at Brock he noted with satisfaction that Steelix had moved to protect Max and at some point during the battle the young girl had gotten away and over to Max.

"Butch handle this ingrate…I believe that is my old friend Brock. What he is doing this far from Kanto territory I don't know but I will make him regret it." Cassidy received one last nod from Butch before she jetted off to engage the ex-gym leader. 'Last thing we need are more Kanto League dogs sniffing around here into our business.' She thought with a grimace.

While Brock was busy dealing with Cassidy, May was left to handle the lower level grunts. It appeared that she was playing a mostly defensive game. Despite Pikachu's earlier massive attack most of the water types were slowly recovering. The grunts were also releasing fresh pokemon to the field. Aqua did not count on quality they counted on power and numbers.

"Well Hutch! It has been a while hasn't it?" He brought his sword around in an attempt to decapitate the teal haired ex-rocket member.

"My name is Butch!" The older man grunted as he deflected the blade with one sickle and brought the other one around to trap the blade. Unfortunately for Butch, Ash just used the caught blade to drive Butch back away from the older man who was lying by his dying wife's side.

Butch grunted as he was driven back. He glared at the young trainer before a spark of recognition took hold. 'Of course if Brock is here it makes sense…' "Well if it isn't my old buddy Ash Ketchup! I almost didn't recognize you."

"Ketchum….asshole and I hope you didn't forget about this either…Pikachu!" Ash pulled his blade away from Butch, twisting the blade quickly to break Butch's guard. The dark haired ranger grinned as Pikachu appeared in a blur of light under Ash's legs before nailing Butch in the abdomen with a quick attack.

Butch fell back into a roll and absorbed most of the attack. He managed to throw one of his pokeballs out in fact he did not even know which one. Luckily for him his Mightyena appeared in a blast of Red light. Taking a moment to recover he pointed a sickle towards Pikachu. "Get the rodent!"

Pikachu quickly dove into the high grass with the giant Mightyena following closely behind snapping its jaws where Pikachu's tail just had been a moment before.

"Well well Botch…shall we end this?" Ash grinned at the man before rushing in once more bringing his katana in a wide low arc attempting to take Butch's feet out from under him. The older man brought his Sickles down to protect his feet and was subsequently kicked across the field by Ash's foot.

Butch grunted as he landed across the field. He decided to send out more assistance for his Mightyena and threw out Hitmontop's pokeball as well. The Hitmontop appeared in a blast of red light. "Top Top!" The pokemon looked over to Butch for orders.

Taking a look at Butch throwing forth a pokeball, Ash unclipped a second from his belt as well, throwing it towards the Hitmontop. A moment later Gardevoir appeared in a flash of red light. "Go Gardevoir…keep Hitmontop busy."

"_Ash…be careful." _The embrace pokemon glanced at its trainer before it teleported across the field out of the way of Hitmontop's kick. Gardevoir returned the favor with a focused psybeam which hit Hitmontop in his chest sending the fighting type crashing along the field.

May glanced over at the fight between Ash and the Teal haired man before looking over to see Brock engaging with blonde haired woman. Luckily Steelix was taking care of Max and the young girl that was a weight off her mind. "Yikes!" May leapt to the side to avoid a stray water gun. 'Get your head in the game girl this is no contest.' She thought to herself as she turned to her Blaziken. "Blaziken use sunny day!"

"Blaz" The bird like pokemon nodded before sending up a giant shining orb into the sky causing the sun which was already out to glow brighter. This upped the attack power for both Blaziken and Venasaur. While it weakened Glaceon and Wartortle it was strategically the best option.

May grinned as she yelled out to her Venasaur. "Alright Venasaur! Solarbeam Blitz!" May grinned before turning to her Blaziken. "Blaziken take advantage of sunny day and use flame thrower!" Finally she turned to Glaceon and Wartortle who had taken shelter from the sun under one of Venasaur's large flower petals. "Glaceon use barrier on anything that gets too close some of those Gyardos may know flame thrower. Wartortle I need you to intercept any water attacks used against Blaziken with your own!"

"Sauuuuur!" The large Venasaur growled before it started to fire solar beam strikes continually. With sunny day in effect Venasaur was not hindered by the need charge up its solar beam attack. The green energy beams flew into Team Aqua's pokemon. Due to the fast nature of the attacks it was not exactly 100% accurate and many of the water types were able to dodge the blasts. The pokemon in larger groups though became prime targets for Venasaur. Blaziken backed Venasaur up by keeping the water types from flanking them.

'Not good!' He thought as Cassidy came right up the middle the only option he had was to dump the bo staff. He let himself fall backwards and brought his leg up and into Cassidy's stomach. Brock managed to flip her through the air and away from him but not before he felt the bite of one of her trench knives going through his shoulder in the soft part of his armor. "Fucking bitch!"

Pushing himself off the ground with his good arm, the dark haired man glanced at his right shoulder and noticed though deep the blade had not punctured anything important. 'Lucky lucky Brock-o' He thought to himself before shaking off the injury. 'I'll have to deal with it later.' He quickly picked up his staff and took up a defensive stance once more ready to repel Cassidy if he could.

While Pikachu and Gardevoir kept Butch's pokemon busy, Ash was once again locked in combat with the ex-rocket operative. Ash swung the sword around and brock through Butch's guard managing to drive the blade into the man's forearm. With a sadistic grin Ash twisted the katana's blade.

"AHH!" Butch growled in pain as he managed to pull himself off of the blade and backed off a little holding his wounded arm to his chest. He surveyed the battle field quickly and could see that things were not going well for their side. Cassidy was holding against Brock for now but his pokemon were being turned into human punching bags. The grunts that were their reinforcements were taking a pounding from one damn girl. Now where was Nicholai…ah there he was…with his Rapidash and in position excellent.

"Nicholai get the girl! Cassidy I believe it is time for a tactical retreat!" Butch called as he managed one last surprise attack slamming Ash back into a tree. If he had the time he would have finished the boy off but he was too drained for a kill strike that would finish the boy off before he recovered. Butch was already moving away letting his pokemon cover his retreat.

"Right! Rapidash! FLAME THROWER!" Nicholai cried towards the steed he sat on. With sunny day in effect the flame thrower was doubly effective as it rained molten fire down upon the Steelix protecting the girl. Nicholai grinned as Steelix roared in pain and started to withdraw from the children it was protecting to avoid the flames.

The moment it was clear Nicholai bent his knees into his steed's flanks and raced forward. He grabbed hold of the girl before Max could even comprehend what had occurred. 'Sorry Max…if you just could see that we are doing what is right for the world.' With a pitying gaze towards the boy he landed a vicious kick to the head on his ride by…knocking the poor blue haired trainer out cold. "Head towards base Rapidash!"

Needing no further urging the fire horse sprinted through the battle field before anything could touch him and cleared the tree line leaving behind a trail of burns in the grass.

Cassidy grinned at the injured Brock before retrieving her Raticate. "Well Brock it has been fun…but I have to go! I think I will take a present first though. Take the girl!" With that she also made her way into the tree line.

Brock only had a moment to comprehend what was occurring before he watched the grunts grab May. The Gyardos had managed to break through the line with concentrated flame throwers which drove back Glaceon and Venasaur from their master. Wartortle was kept back with thunder shocks and Blaziken with hydro pump attacks. 'Shit…not good!' Unfortunately there was nothing he could do. Steelix was still recovering from the surprise flame thrower and Golem was simply too slow.

With Team Aqua gone along with Butch and Cassidy they would have to regroup before any pursuit could be made. Brock made his way over to Max to check on the child.

Petalburg Woods – Field clearing.

Ash looked around the clearing in anger. Not only had they been hit by a betrayal from that fuck wad Nicholai but they lost the girl and May. His hands clenched in anger before he forced them to unclench. The current situation was not good Brock was injured, the older gentleman was still in mourning over his dead daughter and as they came to find out his granddaughter, and Max was still recovering from his head injury. May's pokemon were in various states of injury along with Steelix making them essentially out of the game. Essentially it left everything up to him as he was the only member of the party not injured in some way.

Only one thing for it now. "Go Gengar!" The purple ghost appeared in a flash of light. "Gen…Gen…Gar!" The purple ghost pokemon smirked as it looked around and noticed that no one seemed to be in a playful mood. In fact his master looked down right serious. It tilted its head for a moment. "Gen?"

"Gengar I need you to find someone without being detected…" Ash sighed slightly and attempted to hide his annoyance when he saw the disappointed look that Gengar gave off. For all the good qualities of the pokemon the ghost's mischievous attitude did not mesh well with emergencies. Taking a moment to think up a way to turn it into a game he grinned and knelt down by Gengar.

"Alright Gengar…think of it as hide and go seek." The ghost's eyes lit up as it started to disappear before Ash yelled out. "Wait…you haven't heard the rules yet…" The pokemon slowly rematerialized as it cocked its whole body. "Gen…gar?"

"The rules are you need to find a group with a teal haired man, a blonde haired woman, and a brunette girl that will probably have a bandanna on. Once you find them you have to come right back to me." Gengar started to looked bored with the game until Ash continued. "Once you inform me where they are, you can go back and play any prank you want, just as long as they are incapacitated."

"Gen…Gen gar!" The Gengar grinned before shooting off into the forest and out of sight. Sighing a bit in annoyance over the whole ordeal Ash slowly stood back up and glanced over at Brock. "Brock…can you start patching everyone up and defend this area?"

The older man grunted as he finished wrapping up his own knife wound. "Yeah I'll take care of the others but how are you going to take out those grunts on your own?" Brock had a bad feeling about this…a very bad feeling.

"Simple…" Ash grinned as he started to take off his gloves. "I am going to use Aura to find them."

Brock jumped to his feet and started to move towards Ash. "You can't be serious! Last time you did that…" He cut himself off before settling for a glare at the younger trainer. His voice dropped to a whisper as he neared Ash. "Last time you did that…"

"I know…I went berserk at Cinnabar. I should still be sane enough even with the blood lust to tell friend from foe." Ash finished taking off the inhibitor gloves and let them fall to the ground. The moment the gloves disconnected with his skin there was a sudden pulse. The dark haired ranger's eyes glowed blue for a moment before suddenly switching to red. "Just don't make a threatening move Brocko…I am going to kill them all."

Ash felt his sanity slowly slip away…the world turned into a reddish hue before losing all color as his aura spread out in all directions seeking for Leaf. He recognized Brock in front of him as a friend…the other two people he did not recognize…but Pikachu was with them so they must be allies. 'No wait…I am seeking May…no that can't be it…Leaf is the one missing. Why hasn't she come back from Cinnabar?' Once more he spread out his senses seeking for the girl he had not seen since Cinnabar before he found her. 'May!' He felt her and for a moment he saw her as May…but just as suddenly as his sanity briefly returned it flashed again and May's image became distorted before it was replaced by Leaf.

He could sense people around her with bad intentions…they wanted to harm his leaf. 'No they can't…I won't let them.' He heard a voice in his head the aura uncontrolled slowly leaking through his consciousness and replacing it with it's own will surpassing Ash's will. The dark haired trainer let it too he reveled in it and he felt the blood lust coming forth. 'Just like Cinnabar…oh the wonderful feeling I will break their bones and watch life leave their body.'

Brock slowly backed up as he watched his best friend slowly lose his sanity. No matter how much his concern he knew that Ash was beyond reason now. The last time this occurred was Cinnabar and unfortunately the only thing that managed to contain him was Mewtwo. The Rocket Experiment had used it's immense power to subdue Ash's aura long enough for Blaine and Mewtwo to fashion inhibitors that cut off Ash's connection to his aura. Of course without the gloves on…his aura was free to run loose and control him.

Brock could just make out what Ash was muttering. "Leaf….Leaf….Leaf I will find you I will save you from them…May? No Leaf? May!" Ash screamed before looking at Brock once more. "I will return with Leaf, Brock, I am going to kill them all…"

Ash did not note the concern across Brock's face nor could he fathom why Brock would be concerned not when he felt so good. He could crush Brock's skull in right now…but no he was an ally right? 'Leaf! Yes Leaf I must find her.' Without further words to the small group Ash disappeared into the tree line racing towards Leaf and pushing his aura out. There was going to be a blood bath…the men and women holding Leaf captive were already dead their bodies just didn't know it yet.

A/N: Alright well I wrote a little longer than usual I wanted to actually have a cliff hanger for once since I normally wrap everything up in a nice little package. So I am happy to report that Gengar won by one vote. I kind of needed a ghost pokemon for what I was going to do. I have Ash's 6th legendary poll up. This will be a quick one since I will need the legendary in the next chapter probably. Next chapter we will see if Ash can hold his sanity together long enough not to kill everyone or get killed himself. I will probably write in a flash back near the end of next chapter or the chapter after that explaining how Ash's aura works. As you can see Ash has little to no control over it and it will be due to the way it is activated. Of course with the inhibitors he never had a chance to actually learn how to control it so it controls him. I wanted the aura in here so he could use it to find things but I did not want to make him a weak aura user just able to sense things. At the same time I felt if I gave him the super powered aura abilities it would be almost a cheat. So I gave him aura that is powerful with a really awful and debilitating side effect. Till next time.


	7. The Petalburg Woods - Blaze

A/N: So yeah there is going to be a lot of bloodshed in this chapter and death. Enjoy!

Chapter 7 – The Petalburg Woods – Blaze

Pikachu took a moment before dashing off after its trainer. The small pokemon disappeared into the trees, leaving Brock alone at the edge of the tree line to deal with the after math of the battle.

Brock stared off into the tree line in silence for what felt like hours but had probably only been a few minutes at most. 'Damn idiot…' He was unsure what to do at this time but for the moment he bent over to pick up the aura inhibitors that Ash had worn and made sure to store them away in his vest's interior pocket. 'Hopefully he will be able to use these again.' His musings were interrupted though by Max.

"Brock what happened to Ash? He looked insane after he took off his gloves." Max was still recovering from the blow to the head. At the moment he was still on the ground and had propped himself up against May's Venasaur who was still recovering from the vicious flame thrower attacks it had received earlier. "Where is May anyway?"

"Hn…in a way…yes. Those gloves were all that stopped his aura from taking over." Brock stated as he left the edge of the woods and went back over to his bag that was on the ground near Golem. "May was taken with that girl by Nicholai and his flunkies along this the young girl. Ash went off to find them." He bent over and rummaged through the bag for a moment before he found a second larger variant of a pokeball that Brock kept medical supplies in. He glanced over at Ash's Gardevoir that he had forgotten to recall in his haste to find May. "Gardevoir, can you keep an eye on the surrounding area for any presence that may be coming this way? Without Ash here and with me injured, I will need all the prep time I can get."

Gardevoir looked up from its efforts to locate its wayward trainer before slowly gliding towards the center of the group. _"Of course Brock…I do hope that Ash will be alright." _The psychic pokemon spoke through the mental link it created with Brock. A moment after she had reached the center of the group she closed her eyes and let her mind expand to the surrounding areas for any pokemon or humans that may cause their group harm.

"Me too Gardevoir." Brock muttered more to himself than to Gardevoir. 'Ash I don't want to have to be the one to put you down…' The older man took what he needed from the medical supplies after looking over the injured pokemon. Venasaur and Steelix had received the most damage from the flame thrower attacks but that didn't mean the other pokemon had come away unscathed.

Max watched in silence as Brock started to tend to his sister's pokemon. He didn't want to admit it but he was worried about his big sis. 'Ash will get her back he has to get her back!' Max thought to himself as he felt wet tears start to gather at the edge of his eyes. He tried to take his mind off the scenarios going through his head by focusing his attention on Brock's comment about aura. 'I wonder what Brock meant by aura? I never heard of it before unless it is connected to Lucario's aura sphere…perhaps I can get more out of him.' He just waited until Brock seemed to have taken care of the worst injuries and seemed to be in a lull.

"May will be alright right? That Aura is a good thing right?" Max fiddled around with his glasses while looking towards the older trainer for comfort.

The older trainer sighed…what the hell do you tell a kid that his older sister may be dead and if she isn't already her rescuer may kill her if he doesn't die first. Finally deciding on settling for a white lie for the boy, Brock forced a reassuring smile on his face. "Don't worry Max, Ash will rescue May and bring her back." He felt like a terrible liar when the younger child's face lit up. 'Ash I swear if you don't bring May back I won't even need to call Lance for the containment team. I will finish you off myself.' The older man grunted once more before going back to his work but was interrupted by the older gentleman who had finally snapped out of his daze.

"Young man…they have my granddaughter." The older man had made his dying wife as comfortable as he could in her final moments. Unfortunately the cut had been fatal and now he had to be strong for his granddaughter. "My grandson was to meet us here shortly. He will surely help your friend upon his arrival."

Nodding a little Brock turned his attention to the older man. "I apologize for not introducing myself sooner. I am Brock, former gym leader of Pewter City. This young man is Max Maple and our friend Ash Ketchum went to retrieve Max's older sister May and your granddaughter." Once again Brock was forced to place a confident smile across his face. 'I swear Ash do not make me a liar!'

Petalburg Woods – Nicholai's base of operation

'Gen…Gen…Gar…" The ghost pokemon had tracked the people to what appeared to be a small compound deep in the Petalburg woods and well out of the way of normal travel paths. The complex had a chain link fence surrounding it on all sides. The ghost pokemon slowly faded away from sight before slipping through the cracks of the fence.

It continued to scout around the outside but could not find what its master had wanted. There were a few men and woman outside but none of them matched the description his master had given. Finally it turned its attention to the small concrete building in the middle of the compound. It was a one level building that only had a single door attached to it. No windows or skylights or any other entrances that the ghost pokemon could find. It paused for a moment before floating through one of the outside walls.

The moment Gengar appeared inside it realized it was in a lab with some of the wild Petalburg pokemon caged up. Random IVs went from different colored fluids into the cages and the pokemon contained within. "Gen…Gar?" The purple ghost pokemon tilted its head a little as it looked about in confusion. Again this was not what he wanted but it was not right either. "Gar..Gar…" Gengar grinned Ash never said it could not have fun while looking for its target. Taking but a moment, Gengar turned the room into chaos as he released the caged pokemon into the lab.

Gengar took a moment to watch the pokemon start to tear the lab apart from the inside. Satisfied that mischief had been managed Gengar dropped into the ground as it stuffed one of its fists in its mouth to keep quiet.

The moment that Gengar dropped through the floor and quickly disappeared again into thin air when it realized the room was inhabited. It quickly realized that it had found the people that its master had been looking for. Right below Gengar stood Butch and Cassidy outside of a cell which contained May and the other little girl that Ash had been trying to protect earlier.

Petalburg Woods –Holding Cell

May groaned a little as she finally came around from being knocked out on the trip to where here was. Of course she was never the most compliant of people to begin with on a good day, so being kidnapped had not really provided her incentive to cooperate. She rubbed her eyes a little before taking in her surroundings. First thing she noticed was the fact she was in a cell…the second issue her remaining pokeballs were gone. "Shit." The brunette muttered before finally spotting them on a desk on the other side of the little room. Of course she would have to get through the cell bars first…which wasn't happening.

She heard a second person groaning and realized that the little girl that Ash had been trying to rescue was in the cell with her. "Are you doing ok?"

The younger girl's eyes widened in surprise for a moment before also taking in her surroundings before finally realized she was also in a cell. "Ummm...I guess…where are we?"

May was about to answer before the door to the room flew open. Both girls had to cover their eyes from the bright glare of the hall lights.

"You are currently at a Team Aqua Outpost Ms. Stone…far far away from your father's influence." Butch stated as he closed the door behind the two.

May glanced over to the younger girl in surprise at the teal man's statement before realizing the young girl had the trademark silver/steel hair of the stone family. "Your Sarah Stone!" She exclaimed in surprise over the revelation.

"Guilty as charged." The young steel haired girl tried to shoot a confident smile at her cellmate but it came off more of a nervous smile. Then again considering the situation it was completely understandable.

He shot the two captured females a leering grin before slowly making his way over to the cell. "Your grandparents were less than willing to provide us with the security clearance codes for the Devon Corporation. I hope that you are more amenable to our situation, Team Aqua is in need of the Devon Corporation's services."

"Never! When my big brother finds out about this you are going to be sorry!" The young girl glared at the two members of Team Aqua. Inside she was quivering in fear over the fact that Team Aqua had managed to not only over power her grandparents but had spirited her away without suffering any losses.

Cassidy laughed a little over the little girl's false bravado before she started to clap. "Oh my aren't you the little fire cracker. Now I don't expect you to have an answer for us right away." A smile crossed her face that did not hold a hint of warmth before she continued. "Of course If you wait too long…I may have to let Butch here convince you in some unconventional ways. He has some sick and twisted desires that unfortunately even I cannot fulfill" She sighed with faux resentment over the predicament.

The teal haired man nonchalantly moved over to the cage before whispering to the girls. "I have broken younger girls than you…but even I won't turn up a chance at being your first…of course after I've had you I will probably be your last." Butch laughed aloud as he stepped back, the terrified looks on the girls faces just turned him on more.

Cassidy stepped over to the door before opening it up. "Come on Butch we do want the information from them before you have your way with them."

"Sick bastard!" May finally managed to overcome her shock and anger shot over her face. "IF you come near either of us I will strangle you!"

May's response was only met with laughter from the duo. "Oh such harsh words little girl…I believe I will enjoy breaking you the most." Without further response Butch closed the door behind, leaving the two girls to dwell alone in near dark of the cell room.

Sarah started to cry. "That sick fuck…I swear if he touches me…" She broke down and started to cry harder unable to go on with even thinking of the possibility.

Unsure what else to do, May inched closer to the daughter of the famous Stone family and took the girl into a comforting embrace not that she was much better off.

Gengar watched the exchange from above in concern. Despite not being connected to the world of the living and their concerns it knew from what the Teal haired man was implying that it was something its master would want to know of right away. Without further ado the ghost pokemon shot out of the compound like a bottle rocket in search of its master. Luckily it was able to hone in on Ash's presence due to the aura that Ash was throwing off in waves.

Petalburg Woods – Ash

'Free!' That was the word that best described how he felt as he ran through the forest. His senses expanded to a degree that if he compared them to what they were like prior to releasing his Aura it would be like comparing a newborn cheetah cub to a full grown adult. He felt where every tree was located, every branch, rocks and even the pebbles.

He continued to rush forward where he sensed the human beings. Pushing his senses out further he finally found the aura of his poor Leaf and what was worse he could feel she was terrified. 'No! No! I will not let them kill you again Leaf! Hold on I am coming for you!' The man let loose a feral howl before increasing his speed. Pikachu had caught up to him by this point and kept pace with his trainer.

Even with his aura he could only sense living objects or what was naturally part of the environment. Due to this he had managed to trip at least one early warning relay that had already alerted the base of an incoming threat.

He felt his thoughts becoming jumbled for a moment when a dark purple pokemon appeared in front of him. Ash scrambled to a halt before he stated at the pokemon for a moment trying to assess what it wanted. 'Enemy?' His mind queried as his aura thirst for blood and the sound of broken bone. 'No…no Gengar? My pokemon!'

"Gengar!" The black haired Ranger managed to fight down his madness but only for a moment. "Did you find Leaf?" Unfortunately the madness only left his eyes for a moment before red started to seep into his mind again. His thoughts slowly drifted towards violence and he had trouble staying on task long enough to listen to Gengar.

"Gar…Gen Gen Gar?" The purple ghost pokemon looked at its master in confusion for a moment before deciding its master must be playing a game. The frown that crossed its face a moment before turned into an evil smirk as it grinned and nodded. "Gen…Gen…Gar…Gen!" The purple pokemon floated about trying to best describe the situation.

Ash barely comprehended the situation that Gengar was describing to him as his thoughts drifted towards his lost Leaf. In fact he only listened for half a minute longer before his jumbled thoughts told him to move in now! He suddenly took off like a shot leaving Pikachu to catch up to his trainer and Gengar behind.

"GEN GAR!" The purple pokemon yelled in frustration over its master's inattention to the situation. Shaking its head in annoyance, Gengar decided that if Ash would not listen to the ghost type then it would have fun. "Gen Gen Gar…" The purple ghost type disappeared from sight as it made its way back towards the Aqua compound.

By the time Ash and Pikachu had reached the edge of the compound the early warning systems were already blaring. The Aqua grunts that had been standing around outside earlier while Gengar had quietly snuck across the compound were now on high alert. Multiple early warning sensors had been tripped and the compounds flashing interior lights had turned on. The whole complex was going into a lock down to make sure nothing could get in or out. Blast doors had already slid over the only entrance to the concrete bunker in case the attacker got through the front line of grunts.

Unfortunately for the Aqua grunts they were not dealing with a normal attacker. Ash threw forth two of his remaining pokeballs, releasing Arcanine and Lucario. "Shatter their forces!" He called to his pokemon before he started to pull ahead leaving behind his slightly confused pokemon. Neither could understand why their master was so reckless but they heeded his commands.

Without missing a beat Ash channeled his aura into his own body and used it to propel himself up and over the fence. He landed flawlessly on the other side surprising the nearest grunt. Ash grabbed the woman's face with one of his hands. A twisted smile came over his face while the girl tried to fight back. "Why do you fight? Don't you understand you are already dead?" He queried in a mock concerned voice before he channeled his aura into his hand…crushing the woman's face in one blow.

He did not have much time to revel in the kill. He licked his lips as he felt a euphoric tidal wave of emotions sweep over him but unfortunately his inattention only earned him a stab wound in the back. He let out an inhuman growl before he turned on the Team Aqua grunt that had stabbed him in the back with a knife. Not even bothering to acknowledge the knife lodged in his back, Ash grabbed the man's arm and shot his aura power up into the man. The over powered aura charge shattered the man's bones from inside out. White fragments of bone shot up through the skin of the man all across his body as he shrieked in pain.

The wild eyed trainer turned his head from the two dead Aqua members to the remaining ones on the compound grounds. Their faces ranged from determination to fear upon witnessing the man's power. Ash started to laugh a loud as he looked across the opposition. "You? You are what is between me and my precious Leaf?" His laughter was momentarily cut off when a crossbow bolt impacted his arm, hitting him right in his forearm. With the aura active he barely felt the hit.

'What is this? Pain? No that can't be right these people are dead.' He finished his thought aloud. "Dead people can't cause pain!" With an inhuman screech he launched himself into the Aqua grunts…as before heedless of weapons. His arms and legs channeled his aura as he drove them into any grunt he came in contact with.

While Ash was busy with the Aqua grunts on the field Arcanine was facing down a particularly vicious Crawdaunt the rogue pokemon made up for its lack of speed with defense and power. Already there had been a few close calls from the Crawdaunt's water gun and hydro pump attack. Arcanine though was hell bent on flash frying the troublesome shell fish despite the type advantage by using constant flame thrower attacks. The giant lion dog pokemon glanced over to its ally Lucario who was currently engaged in a fight with a horde of Pawniard led by a Bisharp.

Lucario gracefully danced out of the way from another Pawniard's attack before viciously slamming his hand spike into the Pawniard's face. "Cario!" He shouted in frustration over the fact every time he took one down it seemed two more appeared to take its place. "PAAAAWWWWN!" Lucario looked up as a rogue Pawniard came down with a devastating brick break attack. Luckily Pikachu was not engaged in its own battle and fried the Pawniard with a thunderbolt.

Pikachu gave the Lucario a thumbs up before Pikachu suddenly jumped to the side using agility to avoid a scald attack from one of the Aqua's Buizel. "Pikkkkkkaaaa CHU!" The electric rodent blasted the Buizel back with another thunder bolt. The small electric rodent grinned a moment at its handiwork before looking for its trainer.

Ash was knee deep in bodies and seemed to be having a grand old time. All thoughts of saving May…or was it Leaf? Had left his mind. Instead he was enjoying the fighting his aura kept his various wounds from letting him bleed out. At this point Ash was covered in cuts and bruises from the head to toe. The only thing left untouched for the most part was his face though it was more from luck than any type of self-preservation. He flicked the brain matter off the end of one of his hands as he finished off the most recent wave of Team Aqua grunts. The remaining grunts had taken a decidedly more cautious approach after watching their team mates torn asunder by the crazed man.

"Come on! I'll take you all on!" Ash grinned when he noticed the group forming a plan. 'Like little ants…they believe they can smite God with enough planning.' He let himself fall deeper into the madness and felt the aura take over more and more of he being. His thoughts and feelings retreated and his baser instincts came to the surface…rend apart flesh, kill the enemy, and survive.

Nicholai's base of operations – Cell room

May glanced up when she heard the klaxon alarm going off throughout the small bunker like structure. A soft feminine voice came over the internal speakers. _"Intruder alert…lock down initiated T-minus 5 minutes. Intruder alert, all personnel to stations." _May let a small smile cross her face as she thought of Ash her knight in shining armor once more arriving to save the day and keep her safe.

The young trainer turned to the girl that was still huddled up next to May for comfort and shot Sarah a bright smile. "Ash is here! I just know he is and he going to rescue us!" She exclaimed trying to get Sarah to get her mind off of Butch's threats.

"You really think so? I hope you are right. Though it could be big brother…he never was one for stealthy entrances." Sarah shot a tentative smile at the older girl. Inside though she was trembling with fear, she did not want the Aqua members that had been in the cell earlier to come back.

Luck was not with the two as not a moment later the door opened. In stepped Butch…alone and without Cassidy. A leering grin came over his face as his eyes rover over the two young girls with unchecked lust. The teal haired man licked his lips once before he released his Primeape. "Just a little insurance so you no one interferes with my fun." He shot a leering grin at the two girls.

Butch took no notice of the two girls trying to withdraw from his reach further into the cell. Instead he continued to walk around the room studying the two girls, his eyes roving over their bodies. "Now I just need you two to separate for me." He shot what he felt was a disarming smile towards May. "I will get to you don't worry…but my tastes…tend to be on the younger side. Ms. Stone do you have those clearance codes?" He laughed a little before he threw out another pokeball and released his Hitmontop into the cell. "I guess it doesn't matter I am going to fuck it out of you!"

The two girls pressed their backs up against the wall. Overhead they both heard the automated voice again over the loudspeaker. _"Lock down complete, all entrances sealed, lock down complete, all entrances sealed. Interior defenses online." _The two shared a worried look with each other, their thoughts both going to the idea neither wanted to voice, the fact that their chance of a rescue just went to nil with a complete shutdown of the facility.

Butch grinned at the two girls before unlocking the cell door. "Noticed that did you? To answer your unspoken question your little hero is currently in the process of getting himself killed in some noble cause to free you two. Don't worry he will die soon enough."

"NO! He will save us!" May screamed in defiance, the young girl shot to her feet and ran at Butch in an attempt to put the man down.

"Hitmontop…" Butch shot a look towards his pokemon while stepping back from the girl. "Restrain this girl until I am ready for her."

"Chan Chan!" The spin top pokemon took the girl out with a low kick that sent May sprawling across the floor.

May fought back the tears that she felt pricking the sides of her eyes. She refused to cry or give in to this sick and twisted man. She tried to get back up but she suddenly felt a pressure on the small of her back. Turning her head in an attempt to see what was stopping her from getting up, she saw that the Hitmontop that had knocked her down had placed one of its feet on her back to keep her down.

Gengar slowly floated through the walls as an invisible presence. It surveyed the situation as it was unsure what was occurring. The ghost quickly realized whatever was occurring was not something that Ash would approve of. Though it could just go right in and incapacitate the man now…where would the fun in that be? "Gennnn Garrrr." It grinned when it thought of the perfect thing for a sick individual. Gengar slowly floated down looking for a chance to attach itself to Butch's shadow.

Sarah closed her eyes in fright feeling the Teal haired man standing over her. She prayed to anything she could think of to save her. Perhaps she was in luck because a moment later the door swung open to reveal two people in what appeared to be janitors.

Butch growled before turning around and noticing the two janitors that had intruded on his private time. "What the hell are you doing in here? This is a private area and off limits to the likes of you!" He pointed towards the duo with a jab of his finger. "Primeape!"

"Oh Botch!" The one janitor laughed a little.

"It's Butch!" The teal haired man growled in disgust at his name being mispronounced again.

The second janitor stepped away from the first as both struck a pose. The duo started a song heedless of the glare that Butch was sending the two.

"Hutch we find your actions deplorable!"

"So we are here to protect this world from your kind of evil!"

"To defend the defenseless from your perversion!"

"To put an end to your twisted plans!"

"To extend our fists into your face!"

"Jessie!"

"James..."

"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

The duo threw off their janitor disguises and revealed the twin terrors. Jessie and James immediately threw forth their poke balls. "Go Mime Jr!" "Go Seviper!"

The two rocket pokemon appeared in a blast of red light. While Serviper appeared ready to fight, James's pokemon immediately returned to his trainer and hugged the lavender haired man. James awkwardly patted the pokemon and just shrugged nervously at the look Jessie was giving him. "What do you want? He likes me."

Jessie sighed in frustration before returning her attention to the man in the room. A sadistic smile sliding over her face before Jessie addressed Butch. "Well well Bitch, I was hoping to catch Cassidy, that fucking bitch needs an attitude adjustment, but from what we stumbled in on, I believe you will be a fine target for my frustrations." Jessie then pointed her finger towards Primeape. "Go Serviper! Show that pig monkey what happens when it aids and abets someone that likes touching little girls!"

"Seviper!" The purple poison snake pokemon sprung onto the Primeape, it quickly wrapped its way around the pig monkey's body and started to immediately use wrap. Butch's Primeape attempted to get free by biting into the snake pokemon but to no avail.

Butch growled at his stupidity for only bringing in two of his pokemon. The only other pokemon were the girls and if he tried to use them, they would surely turn on him. He immediately identified the weak link of the group. With Jessie's pokemon fighting with Primeape it left James practically defenseless with that baby pokemon. "Hitmontop take out Mime Jr. and James! Get in with Close Combat!"

Hitmontop immediately responded to Butch's command and left its position by May and rushed the duo. "Top Top Top!" The spintop pokemon was almost on top of the two when James sacrificed himself for his Mime Jr. The lavender haired ex rocket quickly got in front of his baby pokemon and tucked himself in ready to take the hit.

James braced for impact and a moment later he felt the blows rain down all over his body. Managing to hold back from screaming in pain he held on until Hitmontop stopped its close combat attack and withdrew from James. Without the fists and feet keeping his body up with their upwards blows, James felt himself collapse to the ground right by Mime Jr. The little pokemon looked on with worry at its trainer.

Managing a small smile he coughed a little, blood flecking across his lips. "Don't you worry Mime Jr. I am here to protect you no matter what!"

Butch snorted at the pathetic display presented before him. He shot Jessie a grin before commenting on the situation. "Pathetic…even with the element of surprise you two couldn't take me down. No wonder Giovanni never sent you on important missions." Butch turned to Hitmontop. "Help Primeape out and then finish the these two off." Butch satisfied that his orders would be carried out started to strip off his clothing.

The red haired trainer didn't know what to do. She and James were always good at stealth operations. Outright power struggles for the two rarely ended well which is why the two were so great at retreating or as she liked to call it advancing in the opposite direction. Still she could not leave these girls to this monster even if they would die trying to stop him.

James cough caught her attention as she tried to figure out what to do. She quickly turned her attention to her wounded comrade. James shot her a smile as tried to pull off the ground. "Guess we really aren't much of anything without that damn talking cat."

"No we really aren't." Jessie put a smile on her face before she managed to catch May slowly working her way towards the pokeballs on the desk. A grin slid over her face. "Why not go out with a bang though!" She turned her attention to Serviper who was valiantly attempting to hold off both of the fighting types. "Seviper! Use sludge wave on the entire room!" The poison type did not question it's trainer as it shot a steady stream of sludge into the room. The wayward attack managed to keep everyone on their toes and served as an excellent distraction.

"Gen Gen Gar…." The purple ghost pokemon grinned when it saw its chance to intercede without accidently being targeted by the man's pokemon. It managed to become one with Butch's shadow. When it was ready it let loose a long ghastly howl.

"Wha…What?" Butch turned around only to see his shadow staring back at him. Only it looked completely demonic with blazing red eyes and a mouth full of needle sharp teeth. "Geeeeennnnn GAR!" He only had a moment to realize what was happening before he was pulled into his own shadow. He continued to scream in horror as he was sucked further and further into his own shadow. Butch's hands clawed around the edges of his shadow before they disappeared completely.

Gengar grinned in amusement over the man's screams. Now the man was in it's world…a cold world that did not follow the rules of the world above. "Gen Gen Gar." It said softly before the shadow of Butch disappeared from the world of the living as well.

May managed to get through the spray of acid without getting hit. She turned around once she reached her pokeballs and threw them forwards. Her eyes went wide momentarily watching Butch sink into his shadow. 'What the fuck?' She thought for a moment before shaking it off, there were more important things to handle right now. "Go Beautifly use psychic on Hitmontop! Munchlax use psychic on Primeape!"

May's pokemon obeyed without question and used their psychic attacks on Hitmontop and Primeape. The two unsuspecting fighting types were hit full on by the attack. Within a minute of sustained contact with the super effective attacks the two pokemon went limp. Both of their brains had been fried by May's pokemon. "Alright good work you two!"

The room fell into awkward silence as the two groups assessed one another. Sarah and May stood on one side with her pokemon ready to fight if need be while James and Jessie stood on the other side with their pokemon.

James laughed a little as he slowly stood up, most of his body weight being supported by Jessie. "The rescuers end up rescued just like old times eh Jessie?"

Jessie smirked slightly before adjusted James so his weight was more evenly disbursed across her body. "Now then! You two! We are here to rescue you and you better be damn grateful for what poor James had to put himself through!"

May just glared at the two members that were currently in what appeared to be old Team Rocket uniforms. It was Sarah who voiced May's thoughts though. "I thank you for rescuing us, we will forever be in your debt, but how do we know you are trustworthy? For all we know you could just be leading us into a trap." The youngest Stone leveled the two with a questioning gaze.

"Why you little brat! How dare you question the motives of the most talented masters of disguise this side of Kanto!" Jessie let her anger get to her and she almost dropped poor James in the process. Luckily James was always the level headed of the two and despite rarely asserting himself over Jessie, he felt this was one of those times.

The bludgeoned man gently placed took Jessie's outstretched hand with the free arm of his that was not slung over Jessie's shoulder. "Jessie." He stopped the angry red haired with a gentle look. Once he assured himself of Jessie's compliance he returned his attention to May and Sarah. He debated how much to let out but in the interest of time he decided to condense the information.

"We are friends of Ash Ketchum, Elite Ranger of Kanto. In fact to be quite blunt we are his spies and contacts for the League currently operating in Team Aqua and we risked quite a bit to get you two out of here. So if you are quite done we need to get out of here!" James looked between the two girls just daring one of them to contradict him.

"You know Ash?" May was thoroughly shocked that the two were associates of Ash. 'Wait a second spies for Ash and the league? I thought Ash said that he was retired and no longer working.' Her fist curled in anger for a moment. 'OOoooh Ash Ketchum you are going to have some explaining to do.' She finally looked up and noticed she was missing the conversation between these two and Sarah.

"So how do you propose we get out of here exactly?" Sarah glanced around the room finding no real way to blast out the building. May was also left wondering how the two ex-Rockets were planning on extracting them…after all the building was on lock down currently.

The two shared a smile before responding together. "Why through a tunnel of course!" With that the two rockets headed back to the door. Taking a moment to make sure the coast was clear they silently waved the girls on before disappearing through the door way.

Sarah glanced at May as she was still unsure what to do about the whole situation. "So do we follow them?"

The brunette thought about it for a moment before deciding that if they knew everything about Ash they must not be all bad. "They know my traveling partner and seem to know more than an average member here. Butch and Cassidy made no mention of him. I feel if he was that well known they would have made a comment. I say we go for it…but we keep alert."

The two girls followed Jessie and James out of the holding cell that Butch disappeared in, leaving behind a dead Primeape and Hitmontop.

Petalburg Woods – Clearing

Steven Stone sat atop his Metagross in silent meditation. The champion of the Hoenn league and successor to the Devon Corporation normally used his time in transit to practice his meditation exercises to keep himself in a calm frame of mind. The meditation especially assisted him in dealing with the two stressful positions he had to maintain.

A small smile crossed his face at the thought of finally getting some time alone with his grandparents and his little sister. Of course as always he was running late but luckily if anyone understood it was his grandparents. The two had started the illustrious Devon Corporation after all so they both knew what it took to keep the company running in tip top shape.

"Meta" Steven's Metagross spoke up when they were nearing the clearing. The pokemon suddenly became agitated though and initiated the psychic link it held with its trainer. Unlike most psychic type trainers this was not Steven's preferred method of communication. Mostly due to the fact he liked people to stay out of his mind thank you very much. With such a public persona he treasured what little privacy he had left. _"Master…I apologize but ahead the fields are smoking I worry for little Miss and the old Master and Mistress." _

Good old Metagross was always formal to a fault. Steven could not count the number of times he informed his pokemon to call him by his first name but now was not the time to remind the Steel/Psychic type. "Forward Metagross full speed ahead and prepare for battle!"

Steven quickly clambered from a sitting position to a standing position. It was a testament to his skills and reflexes that he was able to stand on his Metagross going full speed while dodging incoming tree branches. Steven stared in wide eyed horror when they burst out into the field. It appeared as though a full on battle had taken place in the field. Scorched earth and trees turned to splinters. The grass was mostly trampled upon. The next thing to catch his eye was the sight of his grandfather by his grandmother's side and see appeared to be unmoving.

"Grandfather! Are you alright?" He warily eyed the remaining pokemon that appeared to be injured but now on guard with the new comer. None of these pokemon belonged to His grandparents nor Sarah. 'Wait Sarah! Where is she?" He quickly scanned the field but to no avail he saw a young boy who appeared to be a new trainer and a young man that was until now attending the pokemon.

"Yes Steven I am alright…your grandmother was killed though…we were attacked by some filthy bastards that laid a trap." The older gentleman slowly stood up and ran a hand through his signature steel colored hair. His whole face appeared weary like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. The older Stone spared a sad glance towards his dead wife before turning to face his grandson. "These people here saved us…but they took Sarah and this young lad's sister in their retreat." The older gentleman gestured towards Max. "One of their members Ash went after them…"

Steven's eyes widened in surprise at the turn of events and over the suddenness of his grandmother's death. 'She was alive this morning…god fucking dammit! If I was only a little faster a little earlier!' Steven's hand curled into a fist as he channeled all of his anger into that fist. It took all of his self-control not to scream in rage over the whole catastrophe. 'What the fuck is the point of being Champion when you are unable to protect the ones you love.' Steven made up his mind…he would back this Ash up and help him save Sarah. "Which way did they go?"

The Champion of Hoenn only took the time to set his gaze on the direction before turning his attention to Metagross. "Go Metagross we will rescue Sarah at any cost!"

Brock attempted to gain the older man's attention before he left but to no avail. "Wait!" Brock called out but he got no response except the sound of crashing trees as Metagross barreled through the undergrowth and anything that stood in its way. "Shit…"

The rock type specialist only had a moment to recover before Mewtwo suddenly materialized in front of him practically giving Brock a heart attack. "Holy shit! Where the fuck did you come from?"

The psychic pokemon leveled the rock type trainer with a glare before holding out one of his three fingered hands. _"The gloves." _It spoke through Brock's mind and patiently waited for Brock to pull the inhibitor gloves out from his vest and place it in Mewtwo's hand before the pokemon disappeared again.

Brock let out a breath he did not know he was holding in. 'Fucking shit…every god damn time that twisted bastard of a pokemon scares the hell out of me.' The tanned ex-gym leader took a moment to count his lucky stars that Mewtwo did not travel with Ash on a regular basis. He only had a moment more to recover before he realized what it meant if Mewtwo was here…Ash was on a rampage.

"Brock what….what was that?" Brock's thought process was broken by Max's question. Unfortunately the gym trainer was not in a very informative mood. He was worried about Ash and May. If Ash was in that kind of condition who knew what was happening. "That was Mewtwo…" It was the only explanation Brock answered before going deeper into thought. It left Mr. Stone and Max just as confused as when the pokemon that neither had ever seen appeared before them.

Nicholai's base of operations – Outside

Lucario jumped back from another strike that the Bisharp attempted in an effort to put down the fighting type. Despite the type disadvantage his adversary had given him a type battle. The Bisharp came in with a metal claw attack attempting to rend Lucario apart.

Lucario countered the strike with a bone rush. The hard bone staff that Lucario produced being used as a guard against the metal claw strike from Bisharp. "Cario!" The jackal pokemon dissipated his bone rush the moment the metal claw attack faded from the Bisharp's blade like hand. Lucario came in with close combat and sent the Bisharp flying.

"Cario…" The jackal pokemon glared at the Bisharp daring it to get up again. Once he was satisfied that the Bisharp was down for the count he used calm mind to bring himself into a calm state. His eyes closed and he sent out his aura to track the flow of the battle. Prior to this moment his entire aura had been concentrated on his own part of the battlefield he had no time to spread his senses out before spreading out his aura.

"Cario!" The jackal pokemon cried out in alarm before quickly retracting his aura. The moment his aura had touched his master's he felt a sense of wrongness…instead of peaceful and calm blue there was only rage and red. Lucario had only felt this once before…on Cinnabar Island when his master first attuned himself to the aura. He looked on to see Ash in complete blood lust…and worse it appeared his team mate Pikachu was also affected by the aura. The little yellow rodent appeared to be falling into madness just like its trainer.

Lucario turned to feel out Arcanine but luckily the lion dog pokemon had not spent enough time in close proximity to its trainer to become infected by the madness. Unlike Arcanine, Pikachu, had been with Ash when his trainer had started to gain his aura ability during the Cinnabar massacre. Pikachu already had a long sustained dose of the red rage of Ash's aura. This second dose was only driving Pikachu closer to the edge of madness.

"Lu! Cario!" The aura pokemon got Arcanine's attention before he quickly forced his team mate back further from the battle and from Ash's aura. Lucario could protect himself but it would put too much strain on him to keep Arcanine safe in close proximity. This was now Pikachu and Ash's battle unless the two pokemon wanted to succumb to the madness. There was one thing Lucario could do. When he had judged that enough distance had been placed between himself and his master he channeled his aura into a single pulse. A call for the one pokemon that could possibly suppress Ash long enough to cut his aura off with the inhibitor gloves that Ash normally wore.

Lucario could only pray that Mewtwo would arrive in time to save their master from being lost in the aura. If Ash spent too much time under the aura's influence even the gloves may not be able to bring him back. To use aura one had to have complete control over the aura for one slip and the aura would take control making it the master of one's body. The aura pokemon had learnt this lesson back during its training by as a Riolu.

Ash and Pikachu had no idea about Lucario's concern in fact the two had little on their minds further than the battle. Ash laughed aloud as he stepped back and observed his handiwork. The nightmarish scene reflected what one would see only in the worst wars. Body parts littered the ground that had no discernible relation to a certain body part. He had seen to that…and the fear…the fear on these men's eyes was intoxicating. The only thing he did not understand was why they continued to fight the inevitable. Pikachu rode on his shoulder just like his trainer the yellow rodent was now slick in other people's blood. In fact with the red tinted eyes and blood stained pelt they only way to know it was a Pikachu was from his shape.

"You all die like good little soldiers yet you still come one by one, two by two. In some foolish attempt to murder a God! Do you not understand it is hopeless?" Ash spoke more to himself than to the grunts in front of him. 'They will all die for what they did!...wait what have they done?' He was momentarily concerned as he could not remember why he was killing them. The worry though was washed away in another wave of red aura. 'No matter it is the will of a God to destroy his people or those they challenge him.' A twisted grin came over his face as he suddenly disappeared with Pikachu.

The remaining grunts had not time to react before one suddenly screamed in pain. The man's eyes bulged out as he stared down at a hand coming through his chest. "Shit!" The grunt cried before the man suddenly withdrew it hand back into his body cavity.

"Pathetic little ants! Your only use is to be squished beneath my might!" Ash let loose a demonic laugh before he let his aura charge in his hand before expanding it into the man's body cavity. He reveled in the delicious screams before the man's body literally exploded outwards covering the remaining grunts in the scraps of bloody meat.

One of the remaining grunts fell to the ground screaming in terror. The whole fight had gone wrong from the start but the young woman realized there was no hope. Her screams were cut off from a quick iron tail coming down across her throat. The attack soon parted the head from the body. The young woman's head rolled away from the force of the blow. The woman's face locked in a look of horror in her final moments.

Ash giggled a little as he observed the two remaining grunts. Both were armed with short swords and both looked scared shitless. "Your God is merciful…I will allow you two strikes against your God." Ash shot a disarming smile towards the two. "Two strikes and I will not strike back. If you kill me you shall live…if you don't…well…" With that Ash gestured to the remains that littered the grounds around them.

The two grunts looked at each other for a moment before they took their chance. Both rushed forward with their swords drawn. In unison both men pushed their blades into the man's chest. The aura though managed to divert the blades upon entering Ash's body from hitting vital organs. Without the aura keeping his patchwork of wounds held together and from bleeding out Ash would have been dead long ago. Using his brutal style he had acquired more and more wounds as the battle went on. In fact without the aura parts of his body would be hanging limb and broken bones would have fallen apart from the continued abuse put upon them.

He grunted upon the impact. At first the grunts appeared to think they had won until Ash started to laugh. "I told you to kill me! You have to mean it! Like this!" Ash grabbed both of their heads with his hands before he channeled his aura through his fingers and through the men's skulls. The two cried out in pain before collapsing…dead.

Ash took one look around the battlefield before he sensed him. "Mewtwo…you know you can not stand up to the powers of a God." He spoke congenially with the psychic pokemon that had suddenly appeared behind him in a wave of psychic power.

"_Ash…you fool you knew the risks yet you did it anyway." _The psychic pokemon regarded its master with disdain. Despite the fact that Mewtwo respected Ash for his power, it did not agree with its master's inability to think ahead. It spoke aloud this time instead of through the psychic link. "I warned you…if the inhibitors do not work this time I will have to contain you Ash you know this."

"Pikkkkkaaaaa!" The little electric rodent appeared by his trainer's side. The blood bathed rodent's electric pouches started to spark in warning.

Mewtwo eyes lit up with surprise for a moment before a look of sadness crossed its face. "Pikachu…I am sorry…" It extended an arm before using psychic energy to restrain the small pokemon. If Ash could not be brought back, Mewtwo would now have to kill one of its team members as well. The madness could not be allowed to spread any further. Mewtwo extended his other arm and attempted to subdue its trainer.

Ash's eyes narrowed and he responded to Mewtwo in kind. He pressed back against Mewtwo's psychic energy with his own aura. The two powers were locked in mortal combat neither side giving in. Fortunately for Mewtwo a distraction presented itself.

"Oh my god Ash!" May screamed out upon the sight that greeted her. Pikachu visibly restrained by psychic energy and Ash locked in combat with an unknown pokemon. What was worse Lucario and Arcanine appeared to be doing nothing to stop this attack. It was when Ash turned to her that she knew something was wrong with him. He looked…crazy. The moment Ash turned to face them Jessie and James drew in a sharp breathe.

"We have to leave! He is no longer in control of himself!" Jessie grabbed both the girls and started to drag them back the way they came.

May started to struggle against the taller woman and beat against her arm. "Let me go! I need to help Ash! Help him!" She screamed at Jessie in rage.

James placed his hand on May's shoulder and once again immediately took control with his tone. "No! You need to allow Mewtwo to stop this! He is not Ash right now and only that pokemon can stop him!" May let herself be pulled back against her will.

"Ash! Please!" The brunette trainer cried out once more hoping that she would receive a response from him.

Ash completely ignored Mewtwo now. 'Leaf! Leaf is alive I knew it!' A smile crossed his face as he started to run towards Leaf. The moment his attention was off Mewtwo though he suddenly felt himself restrained in psychic energy. Mewtwo appeared in front of him a moment later. Despite his struggles he felt the gloves slip onto his hands. The moment that the aura was cut off the shock caused the young trainer to pass out. The last thing Ash saw was May struggling against Jessie and James to try and get to him. 'What are they doing here?' With that final thought he surrendered to the darkness.

A/N: Hey…alright so sorry kinda lied about getting to the aura…next chapter I swear! I will also get the gang to Rustboro and out of Petalburg Woods. I swear it…no I oath it! I may get to a gym battle…umm possibly. I will probably at least introduce Roxanne…oh what am I saying? It is all lies everything takes at least one chapter longer to get to then I plan. So next chapter we will flash back to the aura, have Ash recover, May will question a lot, Steven will be questioning as well, Jessie and James may also explain some things, annnnd Brock will be Brock. I will also be dropping off Max at Rustboro so don't expect to see him for a while. Finally do not expect a chapter update next week I will be traveling home for Easter. If I post one feel special. Oh and feel free to review if you have any thoughts on anything. If not no worries I am appreciative enough with the visitors!


	8. Rustboro City Sand Veil

A/N: On to Chapter 8! The group is finally in Rustboro! This chapter introduces the Aura Guardians and as you will see not everything is black and white in this world. I will try to get in some solid May/Ash time soon. New poll up regarding if Brock will be with anyone so please vote on that. Other than that thank you for the reviews and ideas everyone!

Chapter 8 - Rustboro City- Sand Veil

Verdanturf Town – 2 weeks ago

A young man sat in a cross legged position. He let his aura stretch out from the hill top. Using his aura he could feel the presence of every creature in the surrounding area and even the wind flowing through the valley. He did enjoy when he was assigned to the Western region of Hoenn. The young man especially when he got the chance to stop in Verdanturf Town for a chance to rest. The sleepy little town was by far his favorite place. The young Aura Guardian's name was Erik and he was assigned to the Western region of Hoenn. Letting out a content sigh he pushed his aura out further and further.

Erik's eyes shot open in surprise when his aura spread across the Petalburg Woods. 'This can't be right! Can it?' He lost control of his aura and groaned a bit from the sudden implosion of his aura. He cupped his head in his one hand from the sudden onset of a headache. Unfortunately he was not as seasoned as some of the older aura guardians and did not have the control that comes with experience and age.

Erik glanced over to his Meinshao after he recovered to confirm that his pokemon had felt the same thing. The normally calm pokemon had apparently also sensed the burst of uncontrolled aura as well. Her ears were perked up and she had already turned to face the direction in which the aura was generating from.

"Meinshao were any of the other Aura Guardians scheduled to be in the western region of Hoenn?"

The ferret like pokemon shook its head before indicating that Erik should once again tap into his aura. The martial arts pokemon seemed to be agitated by whatever it felt. _"There is something wrong coming from the aura."_ Meinshao spoke through their aura bond.

"Alright alright…hold on." He shot his Meinshao a glare before he closed his eyes and expanded his aura again. This time he expanded it at a slower pace until he reached the source of the disturbance. What he felt wasn't natural at all. The closest thing he could peg it to was madness, insanity, and rage. The aura wasn't coming off the individual in normal waves. Instead it was coming out erratically and inconsistently as if the individual was untrained.

The young man was up like a shot the moment he realized what it was…the features of the aura could only belong to a group of Red Aura users. 'I thought that branch of users was extinguished centuries ago by the Aura Guardians of old!' He pushed further trying to pinpoint the source and identify the user but before he could go further a powerful psychic force appeared in the area and interrupted his connection. A moment later the source of the aura seemed to cut off completely as if it was suddenly capped at the source. The moment the connection was severed he withdrew his aura and turned to his Meinshao. Erik's worry was mirrored on Meinshao's face from both the unknown psychic force well and above anything he had ever encountered and the unknown aura that came from a dead branch of Aura users "Let's go Meinshao! We have to alert the counsel of this manner!"

In a flash the two were gone from the rolling hills just outside of Verdanturf town. The breeze blew through the long grass wiping away any evidence that they were ever there.

Donto Island – Aura Guardian Base

Erik reappeared in a blast of Aura. Unlike his smooth departure from Verdanturf Town his reappearance was rather sloppy. The younger Guardian just did not have the power to retain a smooth jump over such a long distance. After catching himself from falling down by holding onto Meinshao he took a moment to catch his breath. Sweat was visibly dripping off of him from exerting so much power in such a short time.

He finally recovered enough to stand on his own to observe his surroundings. The home of the Hoenn Aura Guardians had been selected for the seclusion and there was no better place than Donto Island. Other than the small harbor on the Southern side of the island there were no further settlements. The base had been hidden away on the Northern side of the island away from the small settlement and harbor. The base had been built into the side of a cliff at the bottom of a dry ravine and from the outside appeared to just be part of the cliff. Even from above the base blended right into the natural landscape.

Luckily Erik knew better. The young trainer made his way up to the sheer rock face and placed his hand on a dark ring that seemed to be embedded into the rock. He pulsed his aura into the stone and only had to wait a moment before the rock face started to split in two in front of his eyes. The hole was large enough for a man to get through. Meinshao and Erik disappeared into the base beyond, the rock face closed behind the Aura Guardian without a sound to alert anyone to its location.

It had taken a while to fully explain everything to Riley and it had taken hours longer to bring the Aura Guardians in Hoenn area together for the council meeting. The Aura Guardians in Sinnoh and Unova were unable to attend due to the great distance from Hoenn. Even so the full complement of Aura Guardians from Hoenn was in attendance making up a group of 16 Aura Guardians.

Riley observed the Aura Guardians that had filed into the war room. The Guardians ranged from newly minted to battle hardened veterans that had made it through the Rocket wars in one piece…more or less. Riley's ever faithful Lucario stood by his side and on his other side stood Erik. The young man was the cause of this meeting. Riley closed his eyes in thought for a moment; he had not expected the day to turn out like this at all but there was little he could do but forge onwards.

The man in the blue suit waited a moment longer for the other Aura Guardians to take their seats before he spoke up in a clear and calm voice to bring everyone to attention.

"Thank you for making it here on such short notice. As the Captain of the Hoenn Aura Guardians I bring this meeting to order."

"I hope this is good Riley…I have been bored as late." A gruff looking man smirked at the younger Guardian. The older man was missing one of his eyes and had a red patch across where his eye used to be. Aurion Red Eye was one of the oldest active members and probably one of the strongest. He was a bear of a man that despite his thick frame was quite quick in a pinch. The man also had long blonde curls that went to his shoulders. The man dressed in the traditional Aura Guardian's uniform contrasting the more modern uniforms the other Guardians wore that matched Riley's in style. It was well known Aurion loved a challenge and enjoyed a fight even more.

One of the other Guardians turned to Aurion with a dour expression upon her face. She always appeared as if she had eaten something sour and her attitude was not much better. "Do us all a favor and retire you old fossil." There was no mirth or even a hint of warmth behind her attitude.

"Ghul…Aurion please peace." Riley decided to intervene before an all-out shouting match between the two began. Out of all the Guardians their personalities caused the two to clash on almost every subject. "Our youngest Guardian Erik came across some rather disturbing news while patrolling the Western edge of Hoenn. He has described an Aura that no one has felt since the Rocket wars."

The blue suited Aura Guardian took a moment to let his words sink in. He absent mindedly adjusted his hat before he continued. "He touched an Aura that was full of rage and anger. If what he felt is what happened in Cinnabar it is our duty to stop this user before he or she brings the same destruction to our nation as Kanto felt."

"You mean a user of the Red Aura?" Aurion asked Riley, his eye clearly showed disbelief. "There branch was wiped out centuries ago! If it is an awakened member that was missed we must deal with the problem now!" The grizzled Guardian banged his fist on the table to make his point clear.

Ghul just huffed at Aurion's overly dramatic manner. "Calm down you old fool. Are we to take the word of a young child that they felt the Aura of Red?" The black haired woman leveled her icy gaze at the young man in question. Her steel colored eyes seemed to search Erik for a moment before she snorted. "The young pup is just over reacting and came running back when he felt something powerful. It was probably just the psychic pokemon he felt interrupting his untrained senses." The younger woman conjectured.

Erik felt his face turn red over the whole conversation. He responded to Ghul's provocations and glared at the Aura Guardian that was not much older than him. "I know what I felt and it was an Aura that felt wrong!"

"Of course of course…" Once again the dark haired woman dismissed the younger man.

Riley sighed in annoyance this is what he hated about full meetings. Still it was his job to bring things back on task. "Regardless of your feelings Ghul, I am worried enough regarding this situation that I will be dispatching Aurion and Erik to scout out and try to locate the source. Due to Red, brick walling the Guardians from establishing a presence in Kanto and Johto, we still are unsure of what occurred to the Aura User from Cinnabar."

"I still say you let me teach that asshole a thing or two about respecting the Aura Guardians." Aurion ground out in annoyance. The man was a bit source regarding the subject. "That we have been denied operation from our own place of origin. It is a slap in the face and I for one say that if this atrocity of an Aura user is traced back to Red we reestablish a presence in Kanto by force!"

"So short sighted as always Aurion…you would throw away the lives of Aura Guardians to salve your bruised ego." Ghul muttered while crossing her arms across her chest. The olivine skinned woman settled with glaring at the man that resembled a Viking of old. "Be thankful that the other regions have not followed in the policies set down by Kanto and Johto. Our existence is fragile enough as it is. No reason to give Stone a reason to follow in Red's footsteps."

"Regardless on Red's stance on Guardians operating within his region. It is necessary that we investigate and terminate any threats to both the Aura Guardians and Hoenn as a whole." Riley stood up signifying that the meeting was coming to a close. "I will alert the other regions. Aurion take Erik with you and see if you can track down this source. If you get a solid shot at terminating the source go for it but I rather get a report prior to termination. Ghul…your absence will be noticed by Koga and Ketchum and they will surely be curious about the emergency meeting. Please report to them and garner any information you can from them regarding the possibility of a user of the Red Aura. Everyone else resume your posts if the user enters your territory call for reinforcements immediately."

The Aura Guardians departed from the meeting. Riley disappeared to make contact with the other Captains from Sinnoh and Unova. Aurion and Erik disappeared off towards the Western region of Hoenn and finally Ghul disappeared to meet with the displaced Rocket leaders.

Rustboro City – Rustboro Hospital – E.R.

"Multiple lacerations to his chest and signs of internal bleeding from the patient. We will have to open him up further to find the source." A Doctor calmly stated before he started to clean the skin for an incision. "I need him under 10 minutes ago!"

Ash could barely make out what was going on. Everything was blurry and all he could really see was white. He felt so tired…perhaps if he just closed his eyes and let everything go. The only thing currently holding him together was Mewtwo. He felt a mask being placed over his face and suddenly the world blacked out again.

"_Thunder!" Ash yelled out to his loyal electric rodent. Pikachu sent out a devastating column of pure electrical energy in all directions to clear out the remaining contingent of Rocket pokemon in this section. A Machamp and Vulpix fell down still smoking from the electrical attack. Ash grinned momentarily distracted which cost him with another blow to the face. _

_He almost relished the pain…it was the only way he knew he was still alive right now. He silently thanked the grunt for assuring him that he was still among the living before he brought his hand up and grabbed the woman's arm on the rebound. With a vicious grin he pulled her in towards him and right into his combat knife. "This is going to hurt. I suggest you take this time to pray." _

_The shock of the blow from the knife into her abdomen only lasted a moment before Ash started to split the grunt up the middle with the knife's serrated edge. Her screaming continued until Ash reached her throat. After he was satisfied with his work he pulled his knife out…or at least tried. "God dammit got it stuck again!" Ash dug a heel into the body of the grunt and started to pull back to pull the knife out. After a solid minute of work he managed to work the knife out. Flicking the blood away he managed a glare at his snickering pokemon. "Oh shut up…not all of us have the equivalent of a lightning bolt as a built in weapon." _

"_Pikkka!" Pikachu stated in a smug tone before he went about cleaning his fur which was a futile act it in itself. The electric rat was completely red at this point even his brown fur was soaked through._

_Ash surveyed the scene to check for any survivors. This was the 4__th__ patrol that they had come across. The last two patrols had almost been right on top of each other. "We must be getting close to their main base." The dark haired Ranger stated. "Time to bring your A game Pikachu, next stop Rocket base! Remember to keep your guard up…and keep track of your kills we will compare who has the most after we will the remaining Rockets." _

_The two shot grins at each other. Both of them were absolutely covered in blood and covered in various wounds and bruises. The partners knew neither was coming out of this alive but it helped to keep them motivated. Besides with Leaf dead and his mother dead he really had nothing left to survive for._

_It happened less than two blocks from the last patrol. One moment the streets of the City were devoid of life. The next moment Rocket Grunts were appearing from every direction. They got him while he was in an intersection. Ash and Pikachu halted their forward progress. So far none of the Rockets appeared to be ready to attack but that could change in a moment's notice. _

_The situation appeared quite grim and to a normal human being this would be cause for worry. Unfortunately or fortunately Ash and Pikachu had no such qualms about losing their lives as long as they took some Rockets down with them. The trainer did not know it but he was starting to leak a red Aura that would be unseen by any but those trained in Aura. If Lucario had been with his trainer he may have recognized the danger._

"_Well congratulations on making it so far. I would say I was impressed by your tenacity at making it this far…but you seem to be more like a bull in a proverbial china shop and less like a skilled battle hardened Ranger." Giovanni stepped out from behind the ranks. The dark haired man had olivine skin and wore an unmistakable salmon colored suit. He had a permanent sneer on his face and looked on at the Ranger with contempt. "From what my scouts say you have caused us quite a bit of trouble before advancing on our base of operations here on Cinnabar. Surge despite his faults had his uses and it will be hard to replace him." _

_Ash simply glowered at the man that was in charge of Team Rocket. He had been waiting a long time for this. A crooked smile replaced the rage as he adjusted his cap before regarding the Rocket force in front of him. "Surge underestimated me…I hope you make the same mistake. I have only so much time left and I want to make it count." The dark haired trainer took a quick look into his surroundings to see what could be used to his advantage. Unfortunately there was not much to work with, this part of Cinnabar City was untouched being the main base of operations for Team Rocket. The citizens had not yet fled the highly populated area since none of the fighting had reached this deep into Rocket territory. _

"_Yes well we shall certainly not do that here. Still you will have to suffer quite a bit for killing the good Lieutenant." The former gym leader of Viridian City was sizing up the Ranger. The young man appeared familiar but none more than any of the other Rangers on Rocket's hit list. Still there was something about him. The man's musings were interrupted by said Ranger. _

"_Stop worrying about Surge's death it should be the last thing on your mind Giovanni! The real threat is in front of you!" Ash shot a grin towards Pikachu. "We may not make it through but we can give them one helluva repair bill." _

"_Pi! Pika!" The electric rodent shot a grin back at his trainer. Pikachu knew this was likely their final stand. There never really was an end game for the two other than kill as many Rockets as possible to avenge Leaf. Self-preservation had left the two long ago and would never truly return. _

_Giovanni let out a cold laugh at the display of bravado from the young Ranger. "Such courage from a League rat…I would offer you a place within Team Rocket but I would never turn away a young man's request to throw his life away." Giovanni turned away from Ash, the leader of Team Rocket had no real sense of the threat that was standing behind him now. He nodded to his commander as he disappeared within the ranks. "Destroy him." A wicked smile crossed his face when he heard the calls for hyper beams and other various attacks. The young man would be torn apart in a matter of moments and he had more important things to worry about. A god damn Moltres was wrecking the Northern line and Lance was advancing through his Southern line. _

"_Pikachu! Thunder!" Ash commanded, they both knew it was his last command. Time seemed to stand still as Pikachu started to spark drawing down a large column of yellow lightning. All around the pair different types of attacks were coming in towards them, they ranged from weaker razor leaf attacks to the all-powerful hyper beam. Ash closed his eyes to block out the blinding light that started to close in around the pair. _

_Ash suddenly felt a warm glow surround him. His body reacting to danger started to glow blue. His eyes snapped open…'I can't give up! It doesn't have to end like this! Leaf wouldn't want it to end like this!" He grasped the power it felt like a warm blanket but underneath he could feel something stronger. Something much stronger was hidden and he would have it! If he was to have a chance to truly avenge his Leaf he would sacrifice anything. Without her here there was no point in continuing on anyway. _

_At first the blue aura resisted and attempted to divert his struggles to reach the true power resting within. The Ranger just pushed harder until he broke through the barrier. Perhaps he would have never reached this point if his need for vengeance was not so high or perhaps If he had something to live for he would have found another way. Alas it was not to be and Ash found what he was seeking. With a grin he embraced it…it felt all powerful and wiped away his cares, thoughts and worries ceased immediately. The aura took over his thinking. All he saw in front of him were threats…threats to his power. _

_Without thinking the Ranger raised a shield of pure Red Aura. The shield absorbed every single attack which caused the grunts to look on in surprised. The shield seemed to glow for a second before the attacks that had been absorbed a moment before shot right back towards their owners. _

_The front lines of Team Rocket were decimated by the all mighty and surprising turn of events. Ash giggled a little when he saw all the dead bodies in front of him. The aura allowed him to not only watch but literally feel the life leaking out of the broken bodies in front of him. It was intoxicating…the power. "Fools in your rush to kill me you have unleashed your own destruction!"_

_Without even looking Ash caught the crossbow bolt that one of the Rocket member's had fired at him from the nearby building. He glanced at the offending bolt for a moment before he swept his arm forwards. A giant pulse of aura cut through the apartment building taking the civilians and Rocket snipers with it when the upper portion began to slide off the bottom half. The bisected building started to collapse sending people both innocent and guilty falling to the street. _

"_You will have to try harder to kill me!" With a grin Ash ran through the decimated front lines and dove into the Rocket members. If he was using tactics he would have used the fact that the Rocket members were hesitant to attack for fear of hitting each other. Instead Ash would continue on a straight path of destruction towards Giovanni ignoring or shrugging off the wounds he was steadily accumulating. _

Rustboro City – 2 weeks after the events at Petalburg Forest

Ash felt groggy as his eyes blinked trying to bring the room into focus. The bright lights automatically forced him to close his eyes before squinting. He couldn't make out where he was and worse yet he could not remember how he got here. He had some fuzzy memories of being in the forest and then a mask. Then he had another flash back of his past.

"Awake are we?" An unfamiliar voice spoke just outside of his range of vision. Ash attempted to get up but instead found the entire experience dizzying and gave up before even lifting himself an inch off of the bed.

The recognizable form of Steven Stone appeared by Ash's side. The Hoenn Champion gently placed a hand on Ash's shoulder to keep him from trying to get up again. "Not quite yet Ash, you are still recovering from some extensive injuries. It was touch and go for a while, even with Mewtwo keeping your blood circulating during the surgeries."

Steven found a chair next to Ash and took a seat before continuing on. "I must thank you for your assistance in rescuing my sister. It would have been most unfortunate if you had not pulled through."

Ash stared blankly at Steven in response. 'What is Steven talking about?' He was still trying to recollect what had actually occurred as his memories of the entire event were muddled. It was like looking through murky water, bits and pieces were there but he could not put them together. Finally he gave it up as he could honestly not remember much of the day after meeting some man named Nicholai in the forest.

"Er…" Ash managed to rub the back of his head with his one hand which luckily did not cause too much pain. "Sorry to say Steven but I have no idea what you are talking about. Where is everyone else?"

"In good time Ash…just know they are safe and secure. I have some questions to ask first." Steven was about to continue but he was interrupted before he could continue by another.

"_Of course you don't remember anything about Petalburg Woods, you idiot it is amazing you are alive." _A contemptuous voice came through a mental link. Luckily Ash and Steven were used to psychic pokemon and neither were shocked by the sudden intrusion. _"You took off the aura inhibitors due to your normal act first and think never way of doing things and turned Petalburg Forest into a battle zone." _Mewtwo appeared in the far corner of the hospital room. The white and purple pokemon leveled a glare at its trainer…trainer used loosely. _"Imagine my surprise when Lucario called out for my assistance. You really are a foolish trainer and it is a wonder I keep you around at all." _

The dark haired laughed nervously and attempted to appeal to Mewtwo's sensibility. "Well…I am sure I did it for a good reason and it was probably the only way to stop…whatever was happening."

Mewtwo felt a tic mark appear above his eyebrow. Ash's speech had not moved him…if anything it had irked him further. _"Only way? You have a legendary psychic on command and instead you decide to foolishly wander off on a killing spree!"_

Gulping a little Ash managed to laugh a little. "Oh yeah…I kinda forgot."

At Ash's statement both Mewtwo and Steven just stared at him in utter disbelief. Steven had not wanted to interrupt the two in their little verbal fight but he felt he should intercede before Mewtwo decided to give his trainer a reminder of his existence.

"Ahem…regardless of Mr. Ketchum's inability to plan ahead and use his resources efficiently…" Steven noticed that Mewtwo shot Ash a victorious smirk at Steven's words. "I would like to thank you for saving my sister. I know you were mainly there to save May but all the same without your interference my sister informed me they probably would not have made it till I arrived."

"Oh…umm your welcome!" Ash laughed as he was unsure what else to say. Then a thought occurred to him. He in turn found the blob of white and purple that was his pokemon, his eyes were still adjusting to the harsh lights after all. "Wait a second! You are psychic how did you not know I was in trouble!"

Mewtwo just stared at its trainer for a moment before responded even through the psychic link it sounded condescended like he was talking to a small child. _"I can't predict your special kind of stupidity Ash Ketchum. And despite your apparent belief that you are the be all and end all I do have other missions I need to accomplish. It is not like you don't have a team of pokemon near legendary strength to call on…if you would actually remember that of course. Next time perhaps I will just ignore Lucario's request for help. See how you like being forgotten." _

Steven shot an amused glance towards Mewtwo. "For such a legendary psychic you sure can be childish."

Mewtwo simply snorted in derision. _"Hazards of being in the care of this fool." _The psychic pokemon waved his hand towards Ash.

Steven decided to turn his attention back to Ash. "I would be interested to know what kind of Aura power that was that you displayed in the forest. I don't think I ever saw any Aura Guardian that displayed that kind of raw power. "

"To be honest I don't know much about it either." Ash laughed a little himself. He was woefully ignorant about his own powers sadly.

"Hmm I guess I should have figured since you don't remember much about it."

Ash shrugged a little bit in response. "Yeah, this is the second time I used it so can't say I am an expert last time…" He trailed off at just the thought.

"Cinnabar Island." Steven filled in for Ash before continuing. A slight smirk crossing his face at Ash's surprised look. "You know all of the Champions of the respective regions talk to each other. Even Red despite his anti-social nature comes to the meetings."

"Oh…huh….guess that makes sense." Ash laughed a little this time without even a wince. Luckily he was used to dealing with pain. "Hey Steven…umm what happened after I passed out for lack of a better term?"

"_More like when I subdued you and cut off your access to the Aura of yours sending your body into shock and overload?" _Mewtwo questioned sarcastically.

"Er….yeah or that."

"Well you pretty much wiped out everyone on the upper level. I cleaned up your mess…mostly with the help of Mewtwo but a few escaped unfortunately." Steven replied a solemn look coming over his features for a moment. "Without you and Mewtwo I don't know if I would have even found the base let alone in time to save Sarah."

A sudden thought crossed Steven's mind and he quickly checked his watch before looking over to Ash. "You up for a walk and getting out of here?"

"Of course!" Ash exclaimed in excitement. Anything to get out of here honestly was a plus in Ash's mind. "How do we get out though? Won't the nurses notice?"

The steel haired champion shot the younger man a grin. "I'm not the Hoenn Champion for nothing. Besides we'll have to hurry if we want to make it for May's contest. If I am correct May should be getting ready for the final round!"

Ash's eyebrows shot up in surprise and he was quickly trying to get himself out of bed despite the injuries some of which were still not near fully healed. His whole chest was a patchwork of gauze wraps and bandages. His legs and arms were mostly free of gauze at this point as most of those smaller injuries had healed. He was just in the middle of getting himself dressed fully when he realized what May had seen. 'Will she even want to travel with me any more if she saw what I think she saw…' Ash felt tightness in his chest that he forced himself to push away.

A more melancholy mood overtook the young Ranger's thought process. 'I can't blame her though. She practically walked into a blood bath she must have seen something when Steven saved them.' He let out a resigned sigh as he started following Steven out the door resigning himself to part ways with May after her contest. It wouldn't be fair to drop the bomb on her right before her final match.

"Oh Mewtwo you coming?" Ash stopped suddenly when he remembered his psychic pokemon who was still in the hospital room.

Mewtwo regarded his trainer for a moment before a smirk crossed his face. _"As much as I would love watching you continue to make a fool out of yourself, I have other things to do. Your little mishap threw me off schedule and I have to get going now that you appear to be fine." _With a final superior smirk the psychic pokemon teleported out of the room leaving without a trace.

"Hn…nice to see you again as Mewtwo…glad to see you are still a sadistic smug dick." Ash whispered before he left the room to catch up to Steven.

Rustboro City –Contest Center

"Alright guys we are going to win this!" May was currently in the ready room she was assigned giving a last minute pep talk to her pokemon…and Pikachu. She decided to "borrow" the little electric rodent since Ash was currently recovering and she required an electric type for what she had in mind.

Her pokemon responded with various calls of their names supporting their trainer while Pikachu looked somewhat miffed that he had been roped into this whole mess but there was little he could do. Pikachu looked longingly at the bottle of hot sauce infused ketchup that the evil temptress had promised him if he helped her out.

The brunette trainer grinned a little when she caught the electric type staring at the ketchup her instincts had been right.

A moment later the announcer came over the loud speaker. "For the appeal portion of the Rustboro City contest finals, second up! The wondrous May Maple of Petalburg City who has captured the hearts of the Judges early on! Her challenger Harley dazzled the crowd with his Cacturne and Ariados! Can she keep up her sweet heart image and capture the finals?"

"Crap!" May did not realize how much time had slipped by. In a flash she had recalled all her pokemon except for Glaceon and of course Pikachu since she did not even have his pokeball. She was out the door and onto the stage in the next moment.

Taking a moment to smile and wave at the crowd she managed to spot Brock, Max, and Sarah in the crowd. She of course was hoping to see Ash but she doubted he would make it. 'I hope he wakes up soon.' Her thoughts were pushed aside quickly to tackle the issue at hand. 'Now to win this contest with style!'

"Alright Glaceon! Pikachu! Front and center!" The two pokemon quickly took their places per May's practice for the final round over the last few days. Pikachu took the center of the ring while Glaceon took up position in front of her trainer.

The crowd awaited in anticipation for her what she had up her sleeve for the final appeal. "Glaceon start this off with ice shard! Into the sky above Pikachu!"

Glaceon let loose hundreds of ice shards into the air sending the shower of ice high above Pikachu's head.

"A beautiful display of ice shard!"

"Not done quite yet." May whispered to herself before shouting out to her pokemon and her borrowed pokemon. "Pikachu! Let loose a continuous chain lightning at Glaceon! Glaceon iron tail!"

The little electric pokemon sent forth a continuous stream of lightning right towards Glaceon. At the last moment the ice pokemon used its iron tail attack to redirect the lightning attack into the ice shards that were now falling. Glaceon skillfully directed the lightning to bounce off the ice shards creating an aura light show.

"Alright Pikachu! Use counter shield to vaporize the remaining ice shards!"

Pikachu cut off his chain lightning and let loose a thunder bolt around his body. The thunder bolts danced into the air causing the remaining ice shards to explode into sparkling water.

May held her breathe for a moment before the Judge's scores for her appeal were finally decided. With a sigh of relief she saw the scores of 9.0, 8.6, and 9.4 come up from the Judges. The applause from the crowd came after.

"A wonderful display by the talented May Maple! Now taking the stage Harley!"

The oddly dressed man that appeared to be a cross between a human and a Cacturne took the stage in the opposite box from May. A superior smirk crossed the man's face as he observed his competition. He finally decided to address her across the stage "I do despise having to crush the dreams of little girls but I will do what I must to win."

Pikachu was returned to May's side and Glaceon to her pokeball in preparation for the final battle. She glared at her competition a tic mark forming over her one eyebrow. "Just be prepared to lose, I am going to steam roll you!"

"Ohhhh the little girls has claws. Meee Ow!" Harley made a cat paw motion with his right hand while giving the younger girl the stink eye.

May for her part was getting mad…like ready to go over and smash the guys face in mad. "At least I don't look like a garden weed!" May shot back at the purple haired man…well something.

For his part Harley did not take the comment well. He wiped out a notebook and quickly scrawled his opponents name into his black book. "You just made the list! Bitch." He whispered the last part since he did not want to get disqualified for inappropriate language.

"Oooh I am soooo scared." May taunted back while giving the man the stink eye which apparently was the wrong move the older man looked ready to kill before suddenly a sadistic smile crossed his face. This gave May pause.

This also gave enough pause that the poor ref for the match could start the match before the two could restart their verbal battle. "Trainers! If you are ready. This will be a one on one battle following Rustboro City rules this will be a battle until one pokemon is unable to battle. Unlike normal contest battle, appeals will not harm your pokemon's ability to fight!" (Can you tell I hate contests and can't write them for shit.)

"Alright! Let's go! ….uh?" May was about to throw out her Blaziken when Pikachu pinched her leg. The yellow rodent had a bad feeling about this Harley guy and he rather give May some much needed fire power in there. "Well…alright Pikachu if you are sure…"

May was uncertain about her choice especially since she had never fought with Pikachu before now. She knew he was pretty powerful to be Ash's pokemon though and from helping to save her back in Oldale.

Pikachu shot May a confident smile before stepping out onto the contest floor.

"A Pikachu hmmm? Well I know how to counter a rat!" The older man stated viciously before releasing his own pokemon onto the field. "Cacturne! Go! Crush that annoying rodent for me wouldn't you doll."

The grass/dark pokemon appeared on the field with an evil grin on its face. The scarecrow pokemon used to scaring its opponents into submission was surprised to see an unfazed Pikachu sitting on his back legs just staring him down. The Cacturne had a feeling it would not be a normal day that was for sure.

"Being the superior trainer I will start this off! Sandstorm Cacturne!" The grass pokemon quickly spun its body kicking up the sand storm which activated Cacturne's sand veil ability and increased his speed.

"Grr…Pikachu! Double team then try and hit him with thunder wave!" May ordered.

Dozens of Pikachu's appeared around the battlefield before they all fired off a thunder wave pulse in an attempt to paralyze and slow down the enemy.

"Underground Cacturne with dig!" The grass/dark pokemon disappeared from view and with the sand storm still in effect he had effectively disappeared from view.

"Pikachu!.." May was unsure what to do as she had little experience with using an electric type and normally did not have a counter for the ground weakness. She would have to finish this quickly. Luckily she had discovered that Pikachu had quite the repertoire of moves if she could get a good hit in. "Thunder struck!"

May mostly called the attack out in desperation and due to the fact she had seen Ash use it before. Hopefully it worked for her.

Not a moment later Cacturne burst from the ground and managed to land a blow on the correct Pikachu with pieces of rock, ground, and its own fist.

Pikachu went flying into the air from the blow but was enough of a veteran to recover mid-flight and let loose a devastating thunder struck attack which used the column of pure lightning to paralyze its foe.

Cacturne flew back towards Harley's side of the arena charred and smoking. Little bolts of electricity danced across the pokemon as well indicating it was semi paralyzed from the attack despite not being weak to electricity.

"You little ungrateful rugrat! You are playing with the big boys now!" Harley growled in frustration. "Bullet seed!" The purple haired man cried out to his Cacturne.

Luckily Cacturne was not going down from a single thunder attack. It quickly spit out seeds and peppered the small pokemon's double team images and Pikachu with the hardened seeds.

Pikachu cried out in pain from the attack before glaring back at the grinning Cactus like pokemon.

May on the other hand was getting worried…she had to end this and end it soon. "Pikachu extreme speed!" The electric rodent started to charge the grass dark pokemon before he suddenly turned into a blinding ball of light.

"Catch it with brick break and send it flying!" Thanks to the sand storm upping Cacturne's speed the cactus pokemon managed to catch Pikachu with its elbow before countering the small rodent's forward momentum and sending it flying backwards with a devastating flurry of punches.

"And that…is all she wrote…better luck next time girly!" Harley grinned which was mirrored by the confident grin of Cacturne turned to frowns when Pikachu got up from the cloud of dust looking none worse for the wear.

May on her end held in a sigh of relief she really thought Pikachu was done for. She placed a confident smile on her face though to piss off Harley if nothing else. "Not so fast! Pikachu volt beam!" The look of confusion on Harley's face was priceless. The man had no idea what was occurring.

Pikachu gathered electricity as it charged the Cacturne. While charging is electricity started to strobe around his upturned tail. The signal beam attack quickly flashed faster and faster before striking Cacturne with the super effective attack…not a moment later Pikachu's volt tackle blasted Cacturne into the other side of the stadium.

The ref awaited for the dust to clear…and not a moment later Cacturne was revealed…with swirls in his eyes. "Knock out! Winner of the match and contest winner of the Rustboro City contest! May Maple!"

May shot a smile over to the glowering trainer who was currently trying to kill said young trainer that had just beaten him soundly with his glare. "What was that you said earlier? Oh yeah that's right! Welcome to the big leagues!"

The brunette trainer held up her trophy a moment later before she suddenly saw her friends rushing towards her to congratulate her. With them was the last person she thought she would see so soon…Ash Ketchum bandaged up and grinning like a fool. Their eyes met and May couldn't help the smile that leapt onto her face. For some reason the fact that he saw her win caused butterflies in her stomach. Without another thought May raced towards her friends and in a move that surprised both of them, threw her arms around Ash before soundly kissing him on the lips.

A/N: I was going to add in some more and perhaps create more of a cliff hanger but I figured between Ash and May kissing along with Ghul's meeting with Koga and Ketchum next chapter that should be suspense enough. Also I am going off on a mini trip tomorrow so I will only have my tablet till Sunday. I wanted to get this chapter out prior to leaving on my trip. I will probably start posting every other week unless the spirit moves me. I may edit this up a little bit on Sunday if I have time…probably should get a Beta but I don't play well with others. Once again my lies are lies within lies about getting the group anywhere. Between May and Ash next chapter dealing with the kiss and having to get a gym battle in somewhere and tackling some more of Ash's past along with Team Rocket and the Aura Guardians I will be lucky to get them out of Rustboro in two or three chapters. Oi anyway time to crash gotta 4 hour drive tomorrow morning blerg.


	9. Rustboro City Lightningrod

A/N: So sorry about the long time no update. Unfortunately Spring/Summer is my busy time at work so I don't have much time to write. I am also job hunting so a lot of my time is subdivided into nothingness. Anyway I managed to get this banged out and I can't promise when the next chapter will be out. Probably late…late like super late June or July but you can thank Ultimate Darkness X for semi shaming me into making time to get this updated.

Chapter 9 – Rustboro City - Lightningrod

Unknown – Kiri Kir Mountain Range

Ghul practically danced down the cavern's main entry way. She passed by Rocket patrols without a care in the world as she hummed to herself. Another mission accomplished and finally away from those annoying Aura Guardians that she was forced to interact with for the past week. She could only hope that the information that she received at their last meeting was worth Master Ketchum's time.

"Master Ketchuuuuuummm! Master Kooooogggggaaaa! I'm back!" The once droll Ghul popped into the command room with a smile on her face and a spring in her step. She surveyed the control room only to find no one home. Well no one of interest at least. A few of the grunts operating the computer systems but no one of worth at least as far as she was concerned.

The control room in general was a crude set up, various wiring hanging from the stone above and running down the walls. Most of the floor was just smoothed down stone and a few metal grates that covered heavy duty power chords. There were a few main monitors hung against the South Wall that mostly scanned through maps of the Hoenn region. There were also a few utilitarian desks with chairs and some modern computers. The room in general had an eerie feel due to the low lighting. Most of the lighting came from overhead excavation lamps. "How disappointing…" She sighed a little before she heard a cough coming from the corner where the prisoner was held. Unfortunately their base of operations did not have the luxury of having much more than the main room, a few storage rooms, and some staff rooms used for sleeping. Thus it was a necessity they keep their unplanned guest in the operations room where there was always staff to watch the prisoner.

"Oh…I did not realize you were still alive. I would have thought Master Ketchum would have killed you a while ago…" Ghul sauntered over to the woman who was chained to the wall. The bindings kept the woman from moving more than an inch in any direction. "Hmmmmm….Not bad not bad at all I must say I am getting great at playing you Ghul." Ghul 1 surveyed Ghul 2 who was currently chained against the wall. Ghul 2 looked a little worse for the wear, her clothing was in tatters and much of her skin was covered in abrasions from abuse. "Did you know I got in a fight with Aurion and he never even doubted I was who I said I was? So much for your legendary prowess."

Ghul 2 glared at her twin before spitting into Ghul 1's face. "Fucking little bitch." Ghul 2 sneered at the bitch that would dare impersonate her. How the little whore with her closet of tricks had fooled the Aura Guardians was beyond her but that was neither here nor there. Ghul 2 was more concerned about making it out of her current situation alive. "The minute I get free I will kill you first!"

Ghul 1 wiped the spit from her face with one of her gloved hands. She looked down at the glove with a look of disgust before bringing her hand up in a back handed slap across Ghul 2's face. "That was really rude! Maybe I need to teach you a personal lesson on how lady should act." Ghul 1 felt a satisfied crunch under her fist after a quick jab broke Ghul 2's nose.

"Gaah!" Ghul 2 wailed as her head jerked back from the unexpected hit. She coughed out blood but it did nothing to stop the flow. The coppery taste slid down her throat causing her to gag from the taste. She glared at the little troll and struggled against her bindings trying to get at the little sadistic bitch that was taking great pleasure from there one on one torture session.

"Now! Now! None of that!" Ghul 1's face twisted into a look of pure loathing as she started to lay into Ghul 2 with a hard punch into the bound woman's mid-section. A moment later she landed a brutal elbow into Ghul 2's face a second time further compacting the already broken nose. Blood, saliva, and bits of cartilage flew through the air and a moment later Ghul 2's body sagged against the chains. Blood was flowing freely down the captive Aura Guardian's face and now her face looked like it had gone through a meat grinder. The woman coughed violently seeing double of her double from the unnecessarily rough hits that had been doled out.

Ghul 1 shot a superior grin towards the bound girl. "You have to keep quiet or else the Operations Staff will not be able to concentrate." She was about to lay into Ghul 2 further before a sharp voice stopped her from dishing out further punishment.

"Dulpica! Stop this at once!" A rather large figure stood at the doorway into the main operations room. The man was dressed in a rather expensive looking dark grey business suit, his bright aqua tie on the black dress shirt was very eye catching. The man held many facial features similar to a certain Elite Ranger Ash Ketchum. His jet black hair was a carefully constructed mess and his golden brown eyes that radiated power as his gaze swept across Duplica and Ghul.

"Master Ketchum Sir!" The few Rocket operatives that were in the operations room managed a sloppy salute to the commanding officer on deck. The well-dressed man simply waved the men off with a smile as he walked further into the operations room.

"Master Ketchum!" Duplica shrieked in delight as she threw herself against the older man and pressed her body against the muscular frame of Master Ketchum before looking up at him. "I am so happy to be back! Can I kill her, can I? Pleasssseeee?" Duplica made motions towards Ghul.

Master Ketchum chuckled a little before running his hand through Duplica's hair in a soothing motion. "Now now…you know I can't promise that…but I do think Ghul's use is coming to an end." He shot an apologetic smile towards the bound woman. "I am sorry but you will have to die soon my dear. I wish I did not have to involve you like this but I did need to know what the Aura Guardian's plans were for Ash."

Ghul glared at the two, well as much as she could, she still could not quite see straight. Watching herself rub against the older man like a whore was not improving her mood. "Somehow I doubt that." She spit out more blood after speaking. Luckily the flow was stemming itself. She once again attempted to use her Aura powers but once again found her powers blocked by the bindings that this Ketchum had placed on her.

Master Ketchum chuckled a little. "Come now you must understand my position. You must have known you were not the only players in the game interested in Ash." With a charming smile he held up his free hand and momentarily let his red aura flash up around his hand. "I have certain plans for that Aura user and they are quite long term…yes quite long term. I can't have your people mucking up my end game now can I?" The roguish man mused mostly to himself over the matter at hand.

He ignored the beaten Aura Guardian for the moment and turned his attention back to Duplica. "Now my darling Duplica please report on the latest meeting from the Guardians."

"Yes Sir!" Duplica detached herself from Master Ketchum and looked on at her master with an adoring smile on her face. There really was no one better than Master Ketchum. Prior to meeting him, she had been shiftless, drifting from town to town with no goals. No one had recognized her special skills before meeting Master Ketchum in Silver Town. This man before her had given her purpose and power. She owed him so much she would do anything for him.

Shaking herself out of her thoughts she quickly summarized the important parts of the Guardian meeting. "They believe Ash may be a Red Aura user like you. Their forces have sent scouts out to find Ash Ketchum but more worrisome they are going to contact the other regions with this information."

Master Ketchum mulled over the information provided to him for a moment. A move against the Aura Guardians to keep them from alerting the other regions could be blocked but not without showing their hand. He took a seat deep in thought over this most vexing problem. His fingers drumming against the tabletop. He barely noticed Duplica crawling into his lap and nuzzling against his chest.

Absently he rubbed the young girls head letting her relax against him. "Koga…Good Afternoon. I trust that you have some information that I would find useful." Master Ketchum closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair completely unconcerned that he was talking to what appeared to be no one.

"Master Ketchum your powers of perception are truly amazing. I do wonder how you are able to detect me so easily." The elder ninja appeared from thin air. Dressed in his traditional ninja fatigues and held a severe no nonsense expression on his face. The man was currently the senior officer in charge of the remainder of Team Rocket.

"Well if I told you, you would only go about finding a way to conceal yourself from me. I truly cannot have that if I am to stay alive after I have outlived your usefulness." The well-dressed man mused more to himself than Koga. "I hope you did alert anyone to your continued existence during your excursion."

"I unlike Giovanni understand the importance of a shadow war." Koga glanced over at the prisoner who had been listening to their conversation with interest. "It is not wise to allow an enemy to know your objectives defeated or not."

The younger man sighed a bit…despite all the help he received from Koga in return for helping the elder ninja reunify Team Rocket he sometimes could not stand the man's constant paranoia. Then again he had lost much of his original clan to Red in the original Rocket War. "You worry too much Koga. Even if she escapes she knows nothing of my true objectives."

Master Ketchum waved off the concerns of the master of the shadows before turning his attention to Duplica who had remained silent up until this point. "Duplica please remove yourself from my body. I do not believe Master Koga will continue until I remove Ms. Ghul."

A moment later Ketchum was up after Duplica had removed herself per his request and shot a pointed look at Koga. "I had been planning on doing this at a later date. I do hope your information is worthwhile."

Master Ketchum looked Ghul over for a moment, a look of regret floating across his face as he let his aura cover his right hand. "I do apologize my dear."

"What are you doing?" Ghul managed to bring her head up to look at the man when she heard him speaking to her. She looked at him for a moment before looking at his glowing hand. Her eyes widened when she realized what he was going to do. "No no! I won't say anything I swear! I Swear!"

The Red Aura user cut off her screams by pressing his hand which was glowing with aura over her mouth. He pressed his power across her. For a moment her blue aura managed to raise up in an attempt to fight off the older man's power. He ruthlessly squashed her attempt at fighting back. His eyes never leaving hers until he watched the spark of consciousness leave her. "You may proceed Koga."

The ninja master to his credit did not say a word. He merely watched until he saw the woman's head drop again and no longer appeared to be moving. "We have intercepted word that the Pike Queen has been sent from Kanto to assist Ash Ketchum in his mission. Furthermore I have heard word that there are certain tensions in Kanto we may be able to take advantage of in the future."

"Is that so?" Master Ketchum looked down at his handiwork with a sigh. He shook his head to clear his thoughts. A thought struck him and he turned to Koga imploringly "The Pike Queen has she arrived yet?"

"No she will arrive in Rustboro City within the next week." Koga stated.

"Excellent, if she were to disappear…our dear Duplica could become the Pike Queen. We need someone to keep up to date with his movements." He turned away from Ghul's unmoving body and turned to Duplica. "Duplica be a dear and impersonate the Pike Queen…please go ahead and join up with Ash Ketchum and his companions in Rustboro City."

"A sensible plan…I shall dispatch my clan immediately." Koga pounded his fist across his chest before disappearing. He would need to act quickly if the Pike Queen was to disappear before arriving in Hoenn.

"I won't let you down Master!" Duplica shot a winning smile before running out of the operations room giggling the entire way down the hall. She had so much to do and so little time. She would have to review any public archive tapes of Lucy that she could find. Part of the disguise was selling personality after all.

"Oh my…that girl really is not stable." Ketchum shook his head a little before turning his attention back to Ghul. "Now you dear…I have such grand plans for you my little puppet."

Rustboro City – Contest Center

It was that awkward moment where everyone was just staring. Ash and May felt everyone else's eyes ping ponging back and forth between them. Even Steven was watching on with amused interest. Brock had a silly grin on his face and Max was just pointing with a gaping mouth. Finally Sarah looked on in much the same fashion as her brother.

'Holyyyy…shit…did that just happen.' May had opened her eyes and was staring directly into Ash's eyes who looked equally surprised. 'I can't believe I did that shit, shit, shit, shit!' May's internal monologue was interrupted by the thought when all of a sudden the announcer took advantage of the great P.R. moment.

"And look at that Ladies and Gentlemen! A perfect topper to an impeccable performance by May Maple! It is so rare that we see such a scene on the contest field!" The announcer was quickly directing the cameramen to get a close up of the two as he hurried down to the contest field.

A moment later the spiffy announcer appeared behind the two, a giant a smile coming across his face as he wrapped his arms around the two. "Now Miss. Maple who is this young beau that has captured your heart." He shot a grin at Ash. "Or is it she who has captured yours young man?"

"Come on don't be shy!" The announcer laughed a little before poking the two when he received no response. The two were completely rooted to the spot…blushing red.

Finally May seemed to come around…slightly or at least enough to speak. "Oh…ummm well this is Ash..." Her voice trailed off as she looked at Ash in uncertainty.

"Er…hi…" Ash managed to stutter out as he looked between May and the Announcer.

The announcer laughed before guiding the two towards the award ceremony. He could sense a ratings boost when he saw one. These two teens would work out wonderfully for this episode. If he got this completed fast enough he could create a back story and voice over some of his previous commentary before the contest video was released on video. "Now let's get over to that award ceremony." Star crossed lovers…that was always a seller. The announcer smiled as he guided them up the stairs and onto the award platform.

It took both May and Ash several minutes and a get through a few awkward questions from the Announcer before they finally managed to slip away and meet up outside. The rest of the group was conspicuously absent…though perhaps not so conspicuous come to think of it. Ash and May had spotted the group a little ways off.

Brock was currently reciting poetry to many of the college aged females leaving the contest hall. Max had latched onto his back and was attempting to get Brock into a full nelson in an attempt to shut him the hell up. Unfortunately it was not going well and the Silver siblings were not stepping in to help the situation. "Come on Brock! No one wants to hear your stupid poetry! I am pretty sure the police are coming on reports of a creep harassing people!" Max yelled out

"Oh Jenny my love! You have come for me!" Brock had turned his attention to the arriving officers and had singled out officer Jenny.

"Sir I am going to require you to cease and desist. IF you do not we will have to remove you." Officer Jenny was currently glaring at the giant man-child.

"Oh Jenny! Even were you to put physical bars between us, they will never stop my love from seeping through the gaps!" Brock called out as Jenny hauled him off towards the police cruiser.

"Heh…good old Brock…he never changes." Ash shook his head a little before turning his attention to May who had a look of mirth about her face after witnessing the scene.

"He is a character…" May trailed off as she turned her attention to Ash. "So…Ash…ummm about earlier…"

"Oh yeah, earlier…" Ash blushed a little at May's mention of their earlier kiss before looking away. He really did not know what to think. After Leaf had been killed he had pretty much shut down emotionally and this was not helping matters. Still he could not deny that he was starting to feel a certain away about the brunette in front of him. Then there were all of the close calls were May had almost been kidnapped or killed since she ran into him.

"May…Look…" Ash sighed, he was a little dejected that he had to let her down but there was no way he could in good conscious let her continue traveling with him. In less than three weeks' time he had put her in danger multiple times. "I…well, I don't think this is going to work."

The silence was palpable and for a moment Ash thought she was going to listen to reason. A nervous smile was coming across his face as the silence continued. It was then that he noticed May's fists clenching and unclenching. Her head was down and her bangs hide her expression but he could see that her jaw was clenched.

"Why?" May then lifted her head up and stared directly into Ash's eyes. She could feel the tears pricking the sides of her eyes and starting to run down her face. She somehow knew that there was no way that he returned her feeling but she needed to know. "Why Ash Ketchum?!"

The teary eyed brunette watched him closely for a reaction but his face betrayed nothing. She wanted him to say something. Anything would do but the silence was not helping. Of course May being May could not hold her tongue for long and found herself lashing out with verbal diarrhea.

"Am I that unattractive to you?" May gestured to herself and now she felt the fool because she knew she looked a mess and was starting to look like the crazy woman during a break up. She could not bring herself to care. "What is it!? Why the fuck is this not going to work out!? I thought there was something here!"

The dark haired trainer just watched May's outburst and carefully kept his poker face on. He could not allow himself to feel anything. If he did May would jump on it and tear his carefully constructed arguments apart. He had been thinking about this since he had awoken. He decided to speak when he saw an opening in May's diatribe.

"May I find you very attractive. I do I promise." He offered a small smile and lowered his voice in an attempt to keep himself calm. The moment he lost his calm he knew he would revert to his normal arguments which were always emotionally driven. "I would love nothing more than to continue traveling with you, really I would, but I have come to realize that it is too dangerous for you to continue travelling with me. So for your safety we will have to part here."

Ash would have only a split second and May's next words to realize that, that was a bad argument to make with May.

"Oh is that it then?" May felt her anger rising. 'How dare he! How dare he try and decide what is best for me!' She raged internally for a moment and her fist was twitching. Her tears had stopped and her face had warped into a look of pure unadulterated rage. "So the great Ash Ketchum has "decided" what is best and his will be done! IS that IT!?"

Ash had a moment really to understand the situation he was in when he realized that they had gained an audience and heard Max in the back ground. "Oh…poor Ash…"

The dark haired Ranger really did not have time to think on those words because the next second he realized he was on the ground and blinked in confusion. 'How the hell….?" He mused for a moment before realizing May was now standing above him shaking her fist and glaring down at him.

May glared down at Ash her tears once again resuming. "You utter fucking asshole! I can't believe what a chauvinistic jack ass you are! I thought you were different Ash Ketchum but I see you are not a man, you are just a little fucking boy that has not gotten over your little girlfriend that left you!"

Ash's face contorted into a look of rage before going completely stone faced. "You don't know what you are talking about May…I think it is time for you to leave. Go back to Petalburg City May…just go." Ash slowly pulled himself up and pushed past May.

May's eyes widened as she realized what she had just said. She did not really know the circumstances not completely. She just knew a little from what she had heard Brock mention in passing to Steven while Ash was out. She desperately wanted to take it back but somehow she knew it was too late. Still she tried. "Ash…Ash wait! I am sorry!" Damn her inability to keep her mouth shut. She just wanted Ash to feel as bad as she did. 'Good fucking job May mission accomplished yet another boy you have lost!'

Ash did not reply instead he simply kept walking and headed towards the local jail. He barely noticed that Pikachu had caught up to him at some point and was bounding alongside to keep up with his angered trainer. "Chuuuuuuuu…" Pikachu called out tentatively.

"Don't worry about it Pikachu. It is for the best anyway…we need to hit up the Rustobo Jail to retrieve Brock and then swing by Rustboro gym to see if the leader knows anything before we set out." Ash ignored everything else going on around him as he marched towards the jail intent on getting Brock out of jail.

Rustboro City – Jail

"Brock…your bail has been posted." Officer Jenny was glaring at the squinty eyed man as she reluctantly opened up the cell.

Luckily Brock had the decency and intelligence to keep him mouth closed for once. This Officer Jenny had taken everything to the next level. He was used to a slap on the wrist and a 'Oh you' but never had he been locked away. Perhaps…perhaps women did not like being verbally harassed and he should rethink his ways of wooing women.

'Nah! Rustboro City must be an outlier in the field of love…oh the tragedy to not understand the feelings of love.' Brock nodded to himself as he confirmed his thoughts as being correct. There could be no way that his advances were unwanted! Just look at his track record…ummm well maybe we shouldn't look at that come to think of it.

He dutifully followed Officer Jenny out of the holding cell and into the main lobby. The moment his eyes caught Ash's eyes he knew something was wrong. He had not seen that look since the battle of Cinnabar. Something had happened in his absence and it could not have been good. Especially considering the fact that the Maple and Silver siblings were nowhere to be seen and Pikachu appeared to be rather sad. "Hey Ash…ummm where is everyone?"

"They left…look we need to get to going to Rustboro gym." Without further comment Ash turned around and walked out of the building expecting Brock to follow.

The tanned man quickly caught up with his slightly smaller friend. He placed a smile on his face in an attempt to lighten the mood. He could feel the tension radiating off of Ash. "So hey…why did everyone leave?"

"They decided things were getting too dangerous. It is better this way." Ash continued his march towards the Rustboro Gym not looking at anything or anyone.

"Well yes…it has been dangerous but come on an Elite Ranger and Ex-Gym Leader we can handle it."

"May almost died twice on my watch. She is better off alone not being a target. Max is too young and the Silver siblings will of course be returning to their duties here." Ash stated in a tone that would bridge no argument.

"Alright…I mean I guess that makes sense. Still would have been nice to have May along eh? For company and maybe something more?" Brock shot a grin towards his stalwart companion.

Ash glared at Brock's attempted joke before speaking. "She knew about Leaf…how the fuck did she know about Leaf, Brock?"

"Look…I may have mentioned something in passing at some point. I don't remember…"

The two fell into awkward silence as they came to the front of the Rustboro gym.

Rustboro City – Pokemon Center

"I know you are not in a good mood but you did not have to make the poor girl cry…or trample her like she was nothing. In fact using Arcanine to practically melt her rock pokemon was a little past harsh." Brock was following Ash and attempting to get some kind of response from the younger Ranger.

"She had to learn Brock…you can't count on type advantages." Ash dismissed Brock with a glare making it known he his advance was no longer wanted or needed. He laid his pokeballs down on one of the trays for trainers and handed it to the nurse.

"Yeah…I mean I know but geez…" Brock muttered a little as he waited for Ash to finish with Nurse Joy. He was so distraught over Ash's mood that he did not even try to hit on Nurse Joy.

Without knowing it, Brock's actions confused Nurse Joy. A little known fact was that there was an actually a club devoted to Nurse Joy. Joy Lovers and they comprised of men that were obsessed with the Nurse's. To keep their sister's in arms from falling prey to these devious and obsessive men. The Nurse Joy's created a registry of these stalkers and they kept a database up and running on one of the computers at all times. The database would run footage off of the camera facing the front door against the registry and if someone came up it would alert the Nurse and provide all the information. Even though Brock was not a member of this club he was considered public enemy number 1 amongst the Nurse Joy community.

"How strange…everything matches…" She muttered to herself before she took the pokemon from Ash and realized she had a message for the young man in front of her. Luckily once the pokemon touched the tray their registry information pulled up the trainer they belonged to. This cut down on theft as if multiple trainers showed up from pokeballs provided from one trainer an Officer would immediately be called to question the trainer.

"Mr. Ketchum…" Nurse Joy trailed off momentarily when she caught the young man's eyes. He appeared to not be in a very good mood. "Sorry…but you have a message and a request to call a Gary Oak in Pallet Town."

"Thanks Nurse Joy. I will be back to pick up my pokemon." Ash made his way over to the video phone bank and selected one of the private video phones. He was well aware Brock was following him not that he cared. If Gary had called it was probably something that Brock needed anyway.

He dialed up the number for Oak's laboratory and watched the line as it connected. A small smirk probably the first since his fight with May came up when the back of Gary's head came up in the video screen. "Wrong camera Gary." He stated in a bored tone.

"Mother fucker…every fucking time." Gary muttered more to himself than to the two men on the other line. Finally after another minute of cursing Gary managed to get the camera oriented so his face was showing on their screen. His signature smirk ever present as he addressed the two in his normal condescending tone. "Well then about time you two lollygaggers got to Rustoboro City. I was starting to worry you had gotten yourself killed."

"You don't know the half of it." Ash muttered as he slouched back in the chair and just stared blankly at Gary.

Gary peered into the camera and leaned in a little closer. "Hey Ashy boy…geez who died?"

"Apparently not Leaf according to May." Ash stated without emotion. His voice mostly just sounding dead.

Gary whistled a little before looking towards Brock. "What happened?"

"Well…ummm I don't really know…I kinda got locked up by Officer Jenny for disturbing the peace." Brock sweat dropped a little his smile turning into a little bit of grimace.

"Of course you did." Gary rolled his eyes and grumbled to himself. "Well…barring the little melodrama where is May, she may as well here this as well since she is traveling with you two."

"She is no longer traveling with us."

"No longer traveling with you? Ok Ashy boy what the hell is going on? I have never seen you this down since…well you know." Gary trailed off at the end but he wanted an answer and he wanted one now.

Ash looked away from the camera for a moment before deciding to just explain what had occurred. "Look May kissed me, I decided it would be best that she not travel with us lest she become a target, she flipped out on me, hit me, and then insulted Leaf." By the end his eyes were blazing in anger and his tone had taken on a hard edge.

"What exactly did you say to her Ash!? Not that either of you are very level headed but she at least must have had a good reason for what she did…well up to the Leaf part. What did you say exactly?" Gary fixed Ash with a hard glare.

At this accusation Ash actually began to fidget a little. Leave it to Gary to get himself involved in Ash's business. He would just blow him off but once Gary was onto something he was like a dog with a bone and would not let it go. "Well…you see it was for her own good."

"Go on…this ought to be good." Gary crossed his arms over his chest and just stared at his rock headed friend.

"Well…heh…ummm I kinda told her that I decided it was no longer safe for her to travel and that we were parting here in Rustboro city." Ash rubbed the back of his head feeling a little bit like his answer would not be good enough for Gary.

It wasn't in fact Gary was entering into a full blown rant. "Are you fucking kidding me Ash Ketchum! You decided? No wonder she was pissed. Did you ever think perhaps you should get her opinion on the matter?"

"Let's just drop it Gary what is done is done. Now can we get to the point so we can head out towards our next gym." Ash let out an exasperated sigh. He really was not in the mood for a lecture from Gary Oak about his god damn love life again.

"Fine Ash…fine we will drop it for now." Gary pointed directly at the camera towards Ash. "But this isn't over Ash and you are going to be stuck in Rustboro for at least another day or two anyway! And Brock I swear to god I will not protect you this time if I see another sexual harassment report come in."

Gary shot a glare at Brock before pausing a moment for suspense. "Lance has seen fit to send you some assistance in the form of Pike Queen Lucy. She will be arriving in the next day or two in Rustboro City and Scott has sworn vengeance if she comes back damaged physically or emotionally."

"That is great Gary we can always use the help but umm why did Lance see fit to send us further assistance exactly?" Ash's head slid to the side as he tried to think of why Lance would think they needed further assistance.

"Who cares why Ash! The beautiful Pike Queen Lucy will be here in the morning. I will have to of course find the nearest flower shop!" Brock's eyes became starry as his fantasy played out In his head. Lucy would arrive weary from her travels, she would of course be looking for her prince charming, and he would be there with flowers and a poem. "Oh Lucy you are the queen of my heart for my heart has been speared by your pike of love."

Gary and Ash rolled their eyes in unison. "Really Brock what makes you think a woman would want to hear any of that…ever." Ash muttered before turning his attention back to Gary.

Gary for his part just smirked. "Well Ashy boy let me explain it nice and simple so you can grasp it with your little acorn brain." He paused and took pleasure in seeing Ash's face start to turn red in rage over Gary's less than veiled insults. "Steven is the champion of Hoenn and Lance is the acting champion of Kanto and Johto. Seems they had a little chat a few days ago and it came to pass that a certain Ranger saved his sister. Oh and the funny thing was that, that certain Ranger happened to take his gloves off that blocked his aura. So somehow after hearing that this Ranger went completely out of control and only stopped due to the intervention of a certain psychic pokemon, Lance felt that you two needed a responsible party to keep an eye on you two. Of course that someone would have to outrank both of your asses to keep you in line. That of course only left an active gym leader, an ex-gym leader of a higher ranked gym, an elite four member which we cannot spare, or of course an active Frontier Brain. So though you are officially still in charge Ash if you and Brock decide to proceed with any more pea brained ideas she will be there to tell you are idiots...officially."

"Great…well we better get a room for the night." Ash sighed as he got up and stretched a little. "Well thanks for the info Gary."

"Hey Ash! We aren't finished here we still have to talk about May! Don't you do it!" Ash simply looked at Gary with a bored gaze before reaching to hit the disconnect button.

"Bye Gary." Without another thought Ash disconnected the call and glanced over at Brock who was still in his little fantasy land. Groaning a little bit in annoyance he grabbed the back of Brock's vest. "Come on lover boy best we get some shut eye. We will have to be up early in the morning."

A/N: So next chapter we will see the arrival of Lucy…well one of them anyway. Perhaps a skirmish with the Aura Guardians of Hoenn or Team Aqua/Magma depending on my mood and what I need. We will be getting out of Rustboro and heading towards Dewford Town. I cut out the scene with the gym leader mostly because I did not feel it was necessary and I was not really sure if I could write a decent Roxanne. Also the fight between Ash and May took up more time than I expected. Well as I said at the start the updates will probably be quarterly for a while. Other than that poll is closed, Lucy will be Brock's love interest. I may throw another poll up there if I need it. Thanks again for the reviews from Egg Emperor, Cyberbeasttitan, Ignisami, and mitzykitty along with the PM from Ultimate Darkness X for shaming me into updating. Drop a review if you wish other than that until next time.


	10. Rustboro City - Weak Armor

Chapter 10 - Rustboro City Weak Armor

A/N: Sorry about the lack of updates and the late arrival of this chapter. Unfortunately real life comes first and I have been rather busy. My wife and I are relocating to Baltimore, MD so it is a bit of a scramble to find a place to live and a place to work for me. Hopefully I will be settled in by November and able to update on a regularish time frame. My apologizes this chapter will be more introspective and not as much action as I was originally planning.

Oak Ranch – Pallet Town

Gary huffed in annoyance from the dismissal he received from his longtime friend and rival. "Damn jackass is a pain when he gets in one of his moods." The young professor was debating on making a call to the lovely Miss May but he was stopped by the sound of the perimeter alarm going off.

"Now who is coming over this late at night…" Gary racked his brain for any late night visitors that gramps had scheduled but could not think of any off the top of his head. A moment later he had the outside cameras up and the sight was not a promising one. He watched as a group of League Rangers started to walk up the path towards the main door of the lab. Taking a moment to pan through the other cameras that surrounded the lab he found a most unwelcome confirmation. He found at least a platoon of Rangers just outside the ranch on standby. "Well looks like tonight is about to get interesting…"

It was a good thing that Gary hung around Ash so much or else he may have been in a panic over the whole situation. He hit the comm link and hoped to god that Gramps was still up or else the old man was going to receive one hell of a wakeup call. "Gramps, we have a late night visit from some League Rangers. I am heading up to the front door to greet them. It looks like they have friends waiting outside our lab's perimeter."

Not pausing for an answer Gary made his way out of the communications room and made his way towards the door. It was just in time for a moment later there was a loud rapping sound coming from the lab's main entrance. "Just a moment!" Gary yelled out ahead the agitation clearly coming across in his voice.

"Can I help you with something?" Gary asked in a brusque tone the moment he had opened the main door. He did not even attempt to school his face to hide his feeling on the entire situation. "This is a private residence and a private lab. Unless you have business here please vacate the premises."

The lead Ranger shook his head in response. For what it was worth the Ranger did not look excited at the prospect of being here either. "You are Gary Oak? Is Professor Oak available as well? It would make this easier for us to talk to your superior."

"Well sorry to say but Gramps does not appear to be in at the moment." The younger professor grunted in annoyance at the Professor remark…because apparently only Gramps counted as a professor here at Oak Lab. Not to mention his superior? Seriously these chumps were rank amateurs.

Speaking of the devil the aging professor appeared behind Gary with that damn happy smile on his face. "Gary! Where are your manners? Our guests must be tired from being up and about this late at night. You get them settled into the tea room and I will be right out with refreshments!" The older professor shot a smile towards the league Rangers before clasping a hand down on Gary's shoulder for a moment.

"Professor Oak this is not necessary we are simply here to provide notice to you." The lead Ranger was cut off by the eccentric old man.

"Nonsense! Any news is always better over tea and refreshments!" The older man laughed as he patted his grandson's shoulder once more before disappearing off to the kitchen.

'What are you planning you crazy old bastard.' Gary thought as he watched his Grandfather disappear before turning his attention back to the Rangers.

For a moment both parties just stood there awkwardly. The Rangers had expected this to be a simple mission and would be out in a moment. Instead the small team of five Rangers were left staring expectantly at one Gary Oak. Gary Oak of course was left to baby sit their unwelcome house guests that Gramps had just decided should be honored with tea and snacks. "Well since we are apparently running an all-night diner…let me show you to the sitting room." Gary gestured towards an open door way to his right. "Well gentlemen…let us not delay."

A moment later the group had been ushered into the sitting room off to the side of the main foyer of the lab. Gary was sitting in one of the high backed chairs and had was sitting hunched forwards with his chin resting upon his clasped hands. The Rangers on the other hand had taken up seating on the opposite side of the room. The lead Ranger and what appeared to be his second in command by Gary's estimation were sitting on the sofa, their hands resting on their knees and their eyes roving the interior for some type of threat that had not yet presented itself to them. The other three Rangers were standing on either side of the sofa.

Just as the tension was hitting the breaking point in the room Professor Oak appeared in the door way holding a tray that held a vast array of pastries along with tea and an assortment condiments. Professor Oak served the entire room with the practiced ease of a professional host. This of course left Gary staring at his Grandfather. The old man was constantly leaving him in some state of disbelief.

"Now then what can I help you gentlemen with this fine evening?" Oak had his ever present grin on his face as he sat down and took his own pastry and tea.

"Seriously old man…" Gary muttered out of the side of his mouth. If the professor gave any indication of hearing the younger scientist he gave no indication.

The unfortunate vanguard was just as confused as Gary was with Professor Oak's insistence at tea and pastries. "Professor Oak…my name is Ranger Lee. I have come to serve you with orders from the League." The man worked a moment before producing a set of official documents from within his vest.

Professor Oak looked over the documents with a hint of amusement on his face until he reached the end of the document. A frown crossed his face as he glanced back at the Rangers with a hint of steel entering his eyes. "Well Ranger Lee. I am quite troubled by this document. According to this document my lab will be taken over by the League and shut down according to the League Champion. I find it hard to believe Red would shut down my lab without a reason."

Gary of course was no where near as calm about the situation as his grandfather. "Shut down the lab! This is ridiculous we are not even league funded!" The young man growled while slamming his hand down into the chair…hopefully making his point.

Ranger Lee grew a tad uncomfortable facing the Professor's Oak. It was well known that Professor Oak used to be a league champion himself and Gary Oak was no slouch either when it came to training. "Yes well…the League does subsidize the food and medical care provided to the pokemon that you have in your care. The League feels it to be a better move to keep all pokemon in stasis…Red being gone for so long, well, there has been a change in League leadership."

"A change in leadership? This is unprecedented…" Professor Oak muttered more to himself than to the actual Rangers in his presence. 'No…this will not turn out well whatever has occurred in the League it isn't normal. Hypno…your services may be required.' The older Professor reached out to one of his most trusted pokemon across their psychic link.

"What the hell is Lance thinking?" Gary growled before directing his anger on the League Rangers. "I don't care how long Red has been gone! If Lance thinks he can just go around shutting down private research institutions he has another thing coming."

"With all due respect Professor Oak…er Oak's." The Ranger corrected awkwardly. "Lance has been relieved of command. Champion Agatha and her Lieutenant Champion Will have labeled former League Champion Lance and his accomplish Karen as enemies of the state." The Ranger looked a tad nervous at the enraged looks he was receiving, it was not exactly that he agreed with the two but at the same time he was just the messenger. Orders were unfortunately orders even if he did not agree to them. "This is a preemptive movement to limit potential resources that the rogue League officials may gain access to. There have already been attacks from now traitorous gym leaders fighting with Lance and Karen. Do not worry the League has this issue under control."

Professor Oak senior actually laughed after the statement from the League official. "The new champion eh…so the old hag has finally made her power play. I see…she seeks to limit the resources that potential threats to her powerbase can gather before the good people of Kanto and Johto realize that a demon has taken control." Professor Oak stood up quickly surprising everyone in the room even Gary. "Well no deal Ranger! You have a choice here and now! Serve the traitorous hag and know that you have turned your back on your oath or protect the people you swore to protect. Think long and hard on this Rangers for I will know where your hearts lay so deceit will be pointless."

With that Professor Oak swept his arm towards the hallway where an older Hypno stood. The pokemon may not be quite as fast as he was in his prime but he was still more than powerful enough to put down most pokemon a Ranger could sport.

An uncomfortable silence fell over the room. Gary was staring warily at the Rangers in the sitting room. His hand twitched every moment or so towards the pokeballs he always made a habit of carrying on his belt. The League Rangers in the room were making a hasty meeting between each other. The one in charge was obviously arguing with one or two of the younger members regarding their feelings on Professor Oak's offer.

Professor Oak though for all of his anger was content to rock back and forth on his heels and await an answer from the Rangers.

Finally after a ten minute debate Lee turned back to Professor Oak. "Professor after debate…my team has decided to accept your offer on one condition."

"Oh…and what may that be?" Professor Oak said lightly as he turned to Hypno and giving his trusted pokemon a discreet nod prior to turning his attention back to the Rangers.

Lee slowly stood up and met Professor Oak's eyes. "You have to guarantee safety be provided to our families…you have to understand that Johto and Kanto are about to erupt in civil war." The lead ranger chuckled a little. "In fact I must be crazy…one retired league champion, two rogue league elite four members, and a handful of gym leaders not content to believe the party line taking on the entire league."

"Well…unfortunately we have some bigger fish to fry. From the cameras outside it looks like you have more of your buddies out there that we have to deal with. On top of that someone needs to alert Ash as to what is going on…undoubtedly the communication lines will be cut before I can reach Ash with the mood he is in." Gary grumbled the last part as he was a little mad with himself. 'Of course just my luck that I piss Ash off right before a major government coup taking place.'

Professor Oak hummed a little in agreement before turning back to the issue at hand. "All are welcome to relocate to Pallet town…Agatha is a fool to make an enemy so close to the League's door step." Professor Oak shook his head before turning his attention to Gary. "Gary…I think a welcome is in order…is Ash's Charizard still at hand?"

Gary blanched a little at this request. "Sorry Gramps…umm Ash must have decided he needed more fire power. He switched out Pidgeot for Charizard earlier. I know he has run into some issues out there and he must have decided that more fire power was required." Gary ended his explanation with a slight shrug as if to say "Well what can you do? It is Ash we are talking about here."

"Hmm…just as well I suppose. I think I have just the thing. We can hopefully convince them that Lance is here." With that he held up the pokeball containing his own Dragonite before glancing around at the League Rangers and his grandson. "Gary you need to get to Ash and warn him. If I know Agatha she will send someone loyal to her that Ash trusts just enough…just enough to get close and kill him before he even knows he is in danger. Now that she has made her move she won't leave it to chance that Red's favorite will stay in retirement."

A thought struck Gary a moment later. "FUCK! "Lance" just sent Lucy the pikequeen to "assist" Ash and Brock…who the hell knows if that order actually came from Lance or not. Brock will walk into her pike with open arms and will be dead before he even knows what is going on if she was sent by Agatha." Gary was ready to launch into another string of profanity laced curses before Professor Oak silenced him with a glare.

"Your mother would be appalled by your choice of language young man." Oak showed he was not really too torn up over his grandson's language with a small smirk playing on the edge of his lips.

Gary grunted in response before turning to the currently silent group of Rangers who had been watching the back and forth between the two professors for the past few minutes. "Ranger Lee I will need some cover to get clear of the rest of the Rangers lying in wait…any chance some of them will turn when they see you fighting with us?" Gary shot the men a winning smile as he readied his pokeballs for action just as his Grandfather appeared to be doing the same.

Lee shrugged a little before checking on his own pokeballs not to mention his baton to make sure it was ready in case he got into any hand to hand combat. "Touch and go…some may but probably not. I wouldn't expect any further turncoats. The remaining Rangers are going to assume we have been turned and not of our own free will." The lead Ranger turned to his small group before nodding to their pokeballs. "Get ready we will be outnumbered and outgunned."

"Don't be so sure." Professor Oak shot a confident smile much like Gary's towards the Rangers. "You see the pokemon on this ranch though loyal to their trainers first are also quite fond of me. I have taken care of some longer than their trainers have. This is why Agatha wanted to shut me down. I have a veritable army of pokemon from hundreds and hundreds of League certified Rangers, Trainers and Gym Leaders."

Lee nodded a little at the Professor's words. "Well Professor if you can back us up just may be able to hold the Ranch and make the Rangers retreat if they find themselves fighting against the entire ranch's pokemon." Lee glanced over at one of the younger Ranger's a recruit if the girlish face was anything to go by. "Samantha you will be our rear guard. Anything that slips by the flanks will be your responsibility." The no nonsense Ranger turned back to Professor Oak. "We should move now, every minute that ticks by will cause the Rangers in reserve to wonder what is taking us so long."

"Gary…get yourself packed up and make sure you have a competent flying pokemon. You will probably have to fly to Hoenn region to avoid any unfortunate run ins with those loyal to Agatha." Professor Oak signaled the Rangers to follow him as he led them towards the main door to the building. He shot a look towards his grandson. "Gary once you are ready I want you to take the back exit and head into the woods. No matter what happens keep going. I will be fine with the help of the Rangers."

Gary nodded a little trying to bury his concern by laughing a loud and acting nonchalant about the whole thing. "Well good luck Gramps don't get yourself killed. I have to beat some sense into ol' Ashy boy anyway. He is useless without me!" Gary left his Grandfather in the sitting room before heading towards the lab to pick up supplies and grab Ash's Pidgeot for the long flight as he did not have any comparable flying types in his arsenal.

Rustboro City – Pokemon Center – Earlier that evening

Ash seemed to be staring straight through the wall in the small room he had secured for himself and Brock. He absently threw Charizard's pokeball up and down, catching it effortlessly only to toss it in the air again. His mind of course was not connected to the physical plan right now. The room's only light source at the moment was the ray of moonlight peeking through the curtains.

"You know where he went Ash…it wouldn't be that hard to go find her." Brock's voice cut through the silence of the night like a knife.

Ash paused in his game of catch with Charizard's pokeball and turned his attention to the other bed in the room. He could see Brock's coal black eyes in the dim lighting from here. "Brock…sorry I didn't realize you were awake."

"Of course I am awake Ash. You have been throwing that pokeball up and down for the last two hours straight." Brock shot a small smirk towards his younger companion before sitting up in his bed and letting his feet rest on the floor. The older man just stared intently at Ash through the darkened room.

There was a pregnant pause in the room as the two just stared at each other before Ash unable to stand silence for very long decided to speak. "So why did you do it Brock? Why did you tell May about my past with Leaf." Absently Ash started to stroke Pikachu's soft fur. He was still pissed off at Brock for that but his anger had abated over the course of the evening. Of course roasting the Rustboro city's gym leader had been a release valve for most of his anger.

Brock sighed before putting his head into his hands. "It kinda slipped out. Well…part of it. I really only told her that Leaf had left."

Ash acknowledged Brock's explanation with a grunt. They both knew that Brock despite his normally calm demeanor was not exactly the most careful person regarding some subjects of his friend's life. "Well…whatever it won't change the outcome. It was getting too dangerous for her to carry on with us anyway. We have a job to do Brock and I cannot afford a distraction like her. I am not concentrating on my true mission here."

"Still the company has been nice." Brock wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at his friend through the dark. Even though Ash may not have seen Brock's facial expression he must have guessed it from the playful tone.

"The whole reason was to provide me with a cover Brock. Eventually though the risk versus reward ratio of the cover reverses and now that Rocket and this new group know I am here the cover is pointless." Ash responded tonelessly before deciding that he was done with the discussion and wanted to go to sleep. "May is better off on her own Brock. Let's get some sleep. Tomorrow we will pick up Lucy and continue to Dewford Town."

Ash heard Brock grunt an acknowledgement before laying back down. He was glad that Brock was not pushing the issue of May. Ash lay there on his side for another few hours unable to get his mind off of the young girl he had sent away before finally his body succumbed to sleep.

The Sea of Kanto – Cruise ship – 8 hours until landing in Rustboro City.

Lucy's eyes slid open at the sudden rustling of noise outside of her cabin door. She lay there for a moment just listening when she heard the distinctive jiggling of her door handle. A normal person would assume that it was a drunk at the wrong door but she had not become the Pike Queen and survived the Rocket wars by being anything but cautious.

The tall woman slowly slid the sheets off of her body and pulled her collapsible pike staff from her bag at the bottom of her bed. "hn…" The jiggling still had not stopped and if she had not awoken to their earlier attempts she may not have even awoken to their now quiet attempts to open the door.

The cabin door slowly eased open letting a sliver of light in from the hallway. Lucy couldn't get a good look at the assailant with the light coming in against the darkened room. Lucy eased herself further into the corner and let the intruder make his or her way further into the room.

Now that the intruder was in the room she could see that they were dressed like a ninja. Lucy's authoritative voice cut through the silence. "Who dares enter the room of the Pike Queen Lucy!" She snapped her collapsible Pike into place with a flourish of her hand.

The ninja turned without making a sound. A moment later Lucy found herself on the defensive when the ninja threw a series of kunai knives towards where the sound of Lucy's voice came from.

"Fool! To take on the Pike Queen will be your death!" Lucy spun her pike in the confined space and managed to deflect or dodge the thrown kunai. She brought her pike's staff side in a sweeping arc in an attempt to catch the ninja but unfortunately the assassin was quite nimble and danced back from the attack.

Lucy had to bring her pike up in front of her to catch the next attack from the Ninja. The Pike Queen brought her staff up and across to deflect the ninja's punch before pushing the ninja back with her staff by catching him in the chest. 'I need to get out of this confined space if I want to finish this guy off.'

She took the opportunity to run out of her room while the ninja was recovering from her last blow. Lucy glanced back and dived down one of the side hallways to the right to avoid another spread of kunai knives from her pursuer.

'No time to slow down now!' Lucy grimaced in pain from landing on her shoulder but she forced herself back to her feet and continued to make her way up to the main deck. 'Made it!' She thought with a grin before turning towards the entry way she just exited. Now that she was in the open she could use her pike to her advantage.

"Shit!" Lucy once again found herself on the defensive despite the advantage of open space. The kunai spread came in from her right. Lucy managed to once again deflect the attack but she realized that the original assailant had not been alone. Black shapes seemed to appear all across the deck from nowhere. "Weaklings! You fight with no honor! I will take you all on!" Lucy spun her pike once before beckoning the ninja team forward with her free hand. She would kill them all for daring to attack her or die trying.

She brought her pike down to deflect another wave of Kunai before picking her target. She was in no mood to play with these annoying assassins. Of course being a Frontier Brain she was no stranger to fighting with the odds stacked against her. She took a running leap and brought her pike down in a hard drive right into an unsuspecting ninja's chest. A dispassionate look crossed her face as she took a moment to watch the blood gurgle out of the new hole she just created. Pulling the pike out with a sucking sound she once again leapt away from the dying ninja. She threw out two pokeballs this time since she needed some help. "Go Seviper! Go Snorlax! Eliminate the threats!"

Seviper appeared by one of the other ninja and immediately sunk its fangs into the thigh of the ninja. A moment later the poisonous snake wrapped itself around the ninja and started to strangle the life out of the poor man. Snorlax appearance brought about an unexpected consequence. The heavy weight pokemon caused the back of the ship to pop up into the air momentarily until the weight displacement was corrected.

In the meantime though the appearance of Snorlax caused most of the ship to awaken judging from the screaming coming from inside the ship. Lucy landed in perfect form already expecting Snorlax's grand entrance. A small smirk crossed her lips as she swung her pike knocking one of the ninjas that was already off balance into the ocean below.

Snorlax roared in anger when he was peppered by kunai knives from the attacking ninjas. The giant pokemon reached down to the nearest pest and grabbed the ninja. Snorlax roared again in a rage before crushing the ninja. The ninja was then thrown carelessly to the deck. The body was completely crushed with blood and other bodily fluids leaking out from every orifice.

Lucy was about to join the fight again when a kunai sunk into her right calf. Lucy cried out in surprise before looking up at her assailant. The offending enemy was a slim blue haired girl with a happy smile on her face. "I am sorry to have to kill you but I need your face!"

Duplica brought another knife into Lucy's side before she had a chance to respond to the original attack. The blue haired girl had to dance back as the tip of Lucy's pike grazed her cheek from the wild swing that Lucy had taken. "Now now…there is no need for that. Such anger! I don't normally like portraying angry people but for my Master I will do anything."

Lucy grimaced in pain and her hand instinctively went to hold her side from the knife wound that Duplica had put into her side. The knife still in her calf wasn't helping matters much either. She grunted out a painful gasp as she forced herself to roll to the side to avoid Duplica's sword coming down on her head.

Duplica glared at the older woman as she flipped her sword around and brought it down again on Lucy. This time her attack was blocked by the pike. "Stop being so difficult! I just need you to die!" With a roar the blue haired girl brought her blade down and into Lucy's shoulder causing the older woman to scream in pain.

"Bitch!" Lucy screamed before plunging her pike in response to Duplica's strike into the younger girl's thigh. The pike queen had enough time to admire her handy work before Duplica brought her good leg up in a snap kick. The blow knocked Lucy off of the boat and into the ocean below.

The first thing that she felt upon entering the water was how cold it was and also how tired she was after the fighting and the loss of blood. Lucy felt her eyes close as she sunk beneath the waves.

Rustboro City – Harbor

Ash and Brock were standing at the harbor watching the large cruise ship come into dock. Ash felt a sweat drop cross his face as he took in all the obvious battle damage that appeared to be all across the ship's front end. "What the hell happened to the ship…it get raided or something?"

"Pikkkaaaa…." Pikachu agreed with Ash as his wide black orbs took in the front railing half hanging off of the side of the ship. Parts of the ship had what looked to be giant fist shaped holes in them as well.

Brock just grunted as he was more interested in seeing his beautiful Lucy again. "Oh no my beautiful Lucy! She is injured! I am coming princess of my heart!" Brock took off upon seeing Lucy limping down the gang plank to the harbor below.

"Seriously Brock this is kind of getting pathetic." Ash muttered so only Pikachu could hear. The electric rodent simply nodded in agreement with his master.

The dark haired Ranger arrived at the bottom of the gang plank just in time to see Lucy being helped down by Brock. The girl was favoring her left leg it seemed and had dressing wrapped around her pants leg. "Hey Lucy…what the hell happened to you?" Ash asked as he took the girl's other side and allowing her to rest most of her body weight between the two men.

"Thanks." Lucy said in her normal no nonsense voice. The Pike Queen normally was not one to mince words so her short responses really weren't out of the ordinary. "Assassins attempted to kill me. I took offense to their attempts and with the assistance of Snorlax…took care of the problem."

Brock seemed to float along half dragging Lucy and Ash with him. "Oh Lucy we must get you to the hospital to tend your wounds! Come my darling I will help heal you with my love!"

Lucy's eyebrow twitched a little before the back of her hand came down on Brock's head and drilled the tanned ex-gym leader into the ground. "I am fine! We need to get out of the city and on with your mission." 'And away from any possible assistance as well.' Lucy's eyes glinted slightly before looking towards her belt for an appropriate pokeball. A frown marred her features as she noticed the pokeballs that were Seviper's and Snorlax's were blinking an angry and constant red. 'So they realize I am not their master. Well no worries her other pokemon haven't realized the betrayal yet.'

"I shall use my Rapidash for transportation." With a slight smirk she released Rapidash and started to near the horse. She placed her hand on the fire horse's side before drawing back with a hiss. Her hand turned a bright red from the burn. Rapidash appeared to realize something was wrong immediately and had started its fire spin attack.

"Return!" Lucy yelled quickly before the Rapidash could complete its attack. The horse returned in a beam of red light and it started to blink furiously in sync with the other two. Lucy noted the questioning looks she was receiving and returned their looks with an even stare. "We recently had a difference of opinion. Apparently she is still angry over the issue." Without further comment she threw out another pokeball this time her personal Ditto. "Go! Venasaur!" Lucy nodded in satisfaction that Ditto turned into Venasaur before the light of Ditto's release faded away. With the help of Ash she managed to get herself up onto her giant pokemon.

Brock of course was fawning over Lucy's new pokemon. "Oh it suits you so well my dark haired angel!"

Ash tuned out the rest of Brock's fawning as the group headed out of town sans May and Max Maple. Ash took one last glance back at the city from the forest entrance before shaking his head and turning back to the task at hand. He had a mission and he was not going to think about May Maple ever again, it had been fun and an enjoyable experience but she was safer traveling with her brother.

Pallet Town – Oak Labs

Gary ran out the back door hoping that the League officials would be concerned with the fire fight taking place on the front lawn. Gary heard Dragonite's roar prior to the whole front lawn lighting up with a massive dragon flame attack. During his run towards the forest Gary caught bits and pieces of the fight when a lightning or fire based attack lit up the night. From what he could tell Gramps and the Rangers were currently handling everything. At least they were until he felt an icy wind blow in past him from the North.

Agatha had arrived in the company of her ghost army. The crone leaned upon her cane, her milky white eyes staring directly at Professor Oak. Her voice was creaky from disuse. "Samuel…I had a feeling you would be causing issues." The milky white eyes took in the Rangers currently fighting against her own. A small smirk crossing her face before turning her attention back to Professor Oak. "I see you have even swayed some young fools to your side. No matter…"

If Professor Oak was surprised by Agatha's appearance his showed nothing on his face. Instead he greeted the old woman in his congenial voice he used with friends and strangers alike. "Ah Agatha! I would have been quite put off if you had not shown up in person. Threatening a person is an art form and done best in person."

"Hn..still the same old Samuel…arrogant and blasé as always even with death staring him in the face." The old crone leaned forwards on her cane and turned her head to the side. A moment later a large Gengar came out of the ground. The Gengar took in its surroundings a moment before turning towards Agatha awaiting an order.

Professor Oak watched for a moment as a Dusknoir also appeared from the ground on Agatha's other side. A moment after the high level pokemon appeared Agatha's ghost army appeared. Due to Agatha's deep connection with the spirit world the lower level ghost pokemon tended to flock to her presence. Most of the ghost types consisted of Ghastly and Duskull but Oak noted the occasional Shuppet in the mix.

"My my Agatha you brought quite the entourage just to deal with me. I should feel honored I suppose." Professor Oak casually tossed out his own two pokemon in response to Agatha's pokemon. "Ninetails your assistance and you too Ampharos."

The white fox with nine tails appeared next to a giant yellow creature that vaguely appeared to look like a kangaroo and giraffe combined together.

"Shall we cut to the chase, Agatha? I just had my evening tea and I would like to be done with this as soon as possible." Oak stated with a smile on his face.

"Arrogant as always Samuel." Agatha shook her head in annoyance before pointing towards Professor Oak's pokemon. "Gengar! Shadow ball barrage! Dusknoir follow up with shadow punch!"

Right as Gengar's shadow ball barrage was starting up Professor Oak yelled his counter to his own pokemon. "Ninetails! Ampharos! Dig!"

The two pokemon disappeared from sight causing both of the ghost pokemon to miss their target. The shadow barrage peppered the ground around professor Oak but luckily Hypno's well-timed arrival shielded the professor from any harm. "Ah thank you Hypno…I forget in my old age that battling is not quite like it used to be."

Agatha stared at Oak for a moment before turning her attention back to the battle. "Dusknoir launch a toxic attack down those holes! Gengar help that poison along with rain dance!" Agatha smirked a little watching Oak's panic as he watched the toxic slide down the hole. Gengar's rain dance attack assisted in moving the toxic along by creating a small flood of water into the ground.

"Ninetails! Turn around and use fire blast! Burn it before it hits! Ampharos out of the hole now!"

Ampharos appeared out of the tunnel before the toxic managed to hit it. It ran right into Gengar's sucker punch though and was thrown to the ground. Unfortunately for Gengar, Ampharos's static ability had activated causing Gengar to become paralyzed temporarily. "Gen gen gar!" It groaned in pain from the unforeseen consequence of physical contact.

Dusknoir had a similar back fire. The ghost pokemon had not backed up enough from the tunnel and was burned by the fire blast venting through the only exit in the area.

"Ninetails reappear and use sunny day to brighten up the skies!" With it being night the sunny day attack cleared up the rain from Gengar's earlier attack and caused the moon to glow all the brighter.

"Dusknoir! Take advantage and use shadow punch!" Agatha watched as a large fist appeared from the shadow's that had appeared thanks to the moon brightening from sunny day and watched as it rocketed into Ninetails side.

Professor Oak watched helplessly as Ninetails flew into the woods from the strength of the punch. He glared at Agatha a moment before turning to Ampharos. "Thunder! Follow it up with Wild Charge!" Oak shot a confident smile towards Agatha before he shielded his eyes. A large column of lightning came down from the heaven's striking Gengar but missing Dusknoir as the ghost pokemon was too far away.

Gengar was already down from the thunder attack and had been unable to hold intangible form. Ampharos tackled Gengar and knocked the ghost pokemon out of the battle in its final charge.

"Dusknoir finish this with Bulldoze." Agatha directed with a superior smile. Dusknoir slammed it's hands down on the ground. The tremors shook the exhausted Ampharos into unconsciousness.

Agatha turned to Professor Oak her milky eyes confident for a moment before she took in her surroundings. Her ghost army had been defeated. The pokemon of Oak Ranch had awoken and realized that their home was under attack. Despite the overwhelming numbers of her army the human trained pokemon had caused her ghost army to flee from superior fire power.

"Surprised Agatha? As usual you are too wrapped up in a single task to pay attention to the big picture." Oak smiled congenially before pointing towards Dusknoir. "You have yet to realize that this causes you to lose both the battle and the war! Now Ninetails end this senseless battle. Payback!"

There was a brief glow of blue from the trees before a force of power rammed right into Dusknoir forcing the pokemon out of this plane of existence.

Agatha watched in disbelief as one of her most powerful pokemon was literally vaporized before her eyes.

Professor Oak recalled his battle damaged pokemon and started to walk away before pausing at the door. "Agatha…I am too old to play these power games and I have killed enough in my time. Do as you will but threaten my ranch again or the people of Pallet Town and mark my words." Professor Oak turned to look back at Agatha a hard glare leveled right at the milky eyed crone. "I will retire Professor Oak and I shall once again take up the mantle of Grand Champion Oak the Destroyer."

Without any further comment Professor Oak returned to the inside of his research lab with the Rangers that had sided with him in tow.

Agatha stared in horror at the spot where Professor Oak had once stood. It was sometimes hard to remember that Professor Oak had once held the title of Grand Champion. Prior to the Rocket Wars the different regions had been united under a single council and at its head Oak the Destroyer. The man had been an army all on his own. He had suppressed a combined Unova and Kalos rebellion all by himself. Of course suppressing amounted to Oak completely destroying every single city in the region.

Taking a moment to gather herself up Agatha decided to leave this issue alone. She had been too hasty in trying to contain Oak and now Samuel not only knew her power play but had set down an ultimatum, mess with Pallet Town and he would destroy her.

The old crone glanced towards the forest for a moment and smirked a little. "Well at least my favored apprentice is dealing with the grandson."

Agatha cackled before disappearing in a wind of shadows and headed back towards Indigo League.

A/N: Alright well here is the update. Next chapter will be more battles. I know I have probably just super complicated this story even further but no worries most of the fun will take place in Hoenn. I basically needed a reason to get Gary over to Hoenn and knock some sense into Ash. Next chapter will be focused on a battle between Gary and Agatha's apprentice along with focusing on May's response to Ash's less than stellar ultimatum. Eh hopefully this story isn't sucking too hard and some people continue to read it. Anyway I will attempt to keep the time frame between chapters down to two months max but again we shall see. Thanks again to everyone who had read and favorited the story. You can all thank Ultimate Darkness for assisting in giving me a kick in the ass.


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